#also I think at least Rus would wear Clothing of some kind but for the purpose of design they are both naked

[aperfecta-rt]

Mermay you say ??? My OCs as mermen upon ye. They're based loosely on flying fish bc I like that video of the guy getting smacked in the face by one that somebody put terraria music over

(Does it necessarily make ANY sense for a trans merman to have top surgery scars given I don't think they'd have tiddies in the first place? perhaps not. Don't care tho)

[carewyncromwell]

“Oh, you're everything I'm wanting -- Come to think of it, I'm aching... On account of my transgression, Will you welcome this confession? Could this be out of line? Could this be out of line, To say you're the only one breaking me down like this? You're the only one I would take a shot on -- Keep me hanging on so contagiously...” ~“So Contagious” by Acceptance 

x~x~x~x

In Estrid Soelberg’s @thatravenpuffwitch sixth year, there was a noticeable shift in the kelpie who’d taken on the identity of Rudolph Ollivander. Ru was as snarky and anti-status-quo as ever, but they also didn’t seem to look upon everyone with so much universal disdain or distrust. They would initiate a game of Wizard’s Chess with their fellow Ravenclaws now again, including Siobhan Llewelyn @kc-needs-coffee. They enjoyed spending time with Galen Stagg @cursebreakerfarrier, even going so far as to rope the meeker Gryffindor into helping him scare some of their classmates at the Shrieking Shack (which resulted in the two “running for the lives” to get away from their targets’ retaliation, Ru laughing their head off all the while). And with Estrid herself, Ru had actually started taking to asking her to dance with them and then whisking them away so that she wouldn’t have to deal with a hundred and one guys trying to court her at parties. Admittedly that particular behavior only made the rumor machine at school work double-time -- the entire school, it seemed like, saw Ru and Estrid as a couple, or at least sweet on each other, just because of how much time they spent together. It had been rather aggravating for both Ru and Estrid for a long time, even after they stopped actively hating each other and started nurturing a real friendship. 

As their seventh year began, Ru’s relationships with both Galen and Estrid grew even closer. Before long, you wouldn’t see one without the other two. If Galen ever got bullied, Estrid and Ru would ride to his rescue. Whenever Estrid had to brave parties, Ru was her shadow, warding off all unwanted advances. And once, when Ru was challenged to a duel by a Gryffindor and one of his buddies and then attacked from behind upon them winning by throwing a potion in their opponent’s face, Galen went full-on “Papa Bear,” blocking the spell before it could land on Ru, disarming the bloke who’d attacked them, and sticking his wand right in the other Gryffindor’s face until he backed off. And as the three’s friendship grew stronger, Estrid really started to realize how much she dreaded the end of her time at Hogwarts. She’d miss spending time with Galen and Ru -- having them always there. 

Ru in particular she hated the thought of saying goodbye to. As a kelpie, Ru had no real family, and they didn’t see themselves as having many prospects for a real future. They didn’t have very strong magic, and their life-span was short enough that they’d have trouble disguising themselves after a while. 

“Sooner or later, any folks around me at a job or some such would start giving me the side eye,” Ru had said at the time, sounding rather grim and resigned, “they’d dismiss all the theories like botched Transfiguration or a Dark curse, and Bob’s your uncle, they’d figure out the truth. At that point...well. The game would really be over then, wouldn’t it?”

It was that masquerade that was central to Ru’s current life. They’d only gotten into Hogwarts by pretending to be Rudolph Ollivander, so without their identity as Rudolph, they didn’t have a pair of shoes to fill that wouldn’t arouse suspicion. And once that identity was taken from them and they were revealed for what they were, Ru seemed pretty convinced that no one would want to stick by them. They hadn’t even told Galen the truth about what they were yet, and Estrid suspected it was largely because they feared what their best friend would think, if he knew they’d stolen the identity of the Ravenclaw boy they’d drowned in the Lake four years ago. Estrid got the feeling that Ru was already preparing to say goodbye to their life as a human and retreat back to that solitary existence they led prior to attending Hogwarts...and that thought hurt Estrid. She hated the thought of Ru living out the rest of their life alone...only being able to look back at all of the fun things they did at Hogwarts, and never be able to try anything new ever again. Never be able to take any more pictures, or get any better at their crude animations, or even take a stroll through the pouring rain again...

The memory of the two of them dancing in the rain together the previous year rippled again over Estrid’s mind. 

Ru had been so happy, just dancing with her in the rain and enjoying the squishing, squelching sounds made by their shoes and their sopping wet clothes. It just didn’t seem fair that someone who could be happy with so little had to condemn themselves to a life devoid of even those little pleasures. But could she really expect a wild creature to put their own self-preservation at risk -- expect Ru to actually brave the consequences of their past actions? As much fun as they had as a human, and as much fun as they had at school...well, it’d already seemed like they’d given up. Like they’d seen the writing on the wall and were prepared to go out quietly, like a very old cat sneaking out of the house to die in peace. And as human as they were...they were still a kelpie. Would they even be happy with the kind of life witches and wizards led post-Hogwarts -- one with structure, with employment and responsibilities -- with family? 

Perhaps it was because of how guilty she felt about Ru’s situation that Estrid agreed to go with Ru when the kelpie decided to take advantage of the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend to sneak out to a photography exposition in a nearby Muggle town. It was likely because of his loyalty as a friend than Galen tagged along too...and perhaps because Siobhan Llewelyn had also caught wind that Ru was sneaking out and decided to tag along too. 

It was a bit strange, dressing in something other than their school uniforms. Estrid had decided it would be practical to wear pants, since they’d probably have to be able to run quickly in case they got caught sneaking out or sneaking back in. She hadn’t been sure what Ru would do, exactly, since she’d never seen them in anything but their school uniform -- when Ru met up with them, though, dressed in a flared red hunting jacket and khaki trousers with no shirt underneath, she found herself completely unsurprised. Ru already never buttoned their uniform shirt, presumably because of how much they hated collars -- Estrid supposed it was only the next step, to walk around just in a jacket without any shirt on at all! 

The exhibition showcased a series of so-called “moving pictures” -- compilations of still photographs that, when put together, created the illusion of movement. Magical photography tried to create such movement through the use of enchantments, like the kind used on enchanted portraits, but the technology of photography didn’t mesh well with those sorts of enchantments, since it was harder to “fold” the enchantments into the photographs the same way one could with paints, and so they were often poor quality and would often lose a lot of the magic trying to give them the ability to talk and move before long. But, as Ru pointed out to the others, these “moving pictures” the Muggles had developed could be played over and over and over again in a loop, and even if there was no sound included, the overall quality of the pictures remained the same. 

“It doesn’t even try to recreate life, like wizards do with their pictures,” said Ru. “Instead it creates the illusion of life -- records one moment, rather than stupidly trying and failing to recreate everything that person was. And that one moment is enough! It’s more than enough. With that one moment recorded, you get all the information you need. You can fill in the blanks of everything else on your own.”

The four spent the day watching and enjoying moving pictures of walking in Paris, France, galloping horses, and even a girl feeding her cat. The entire time, Ru was transfixed, sitting awkwardly as ever on their chair between Estrid and Galen with their way-too-long legs crossed at a weird angle and leaning across their own lap to look at the pictures better. At one point, Ru leaned their head very far to the side close to Estrid, to try to see the picture from a certain angle, and their long black hair came down like a curtain beside Estrid’s face. 

Biting back a laugh, Estrid carefully brought a hand up to smooth Ru’s hair out of her face. The gesture startled Ru and made them look at her.

“Here,” whispered Estrid with a fond smile. 

She very gently reached up to tuck Ru’s hair behind their ear. 

Ru’s face flushed slightly. Their electric blue eyes darted off to the side.

“...Thanks,” they muttered.

Close by, a couple of older matrons whispered amongst themselves.

“Ah, that’s how the couples are split, then -- left and right pairs -- ”

“Such a strange-looking pair on the right, wouldn’t you say?”

“Perhaps...but look at that dark-haired lad, he’s clearly smitten -- ”

“Is that a lad? Good heavens, that hair -- ”

Estrid shot a tired look over her shoulder. 

“Sounds like people are jumping to that old conclusion again,” she said to Ru with a wry smile.

Ru was still blushing slightly, their mouth twisted in a frown. “...Mm.”

No snarky comment? That was odd. Ru would hardly ever pass up the chance to scoff about how humans’ ideas of “romance” and courting were utterly bizarre. Instead there was almost something...grim in their expression.

People wouldn’t be making that mistake anymore, Estrid thought sadly, if Ru disappeared back into the void, once their class graduated... 

The kelpie returned their focus back to the screen, and Estrid followed suit gladly. At least it seemed Galen and Siobhan were too distracted talking amongst themselves to overhear. 

Unfortunately the group couldn’t stay for the entire exposition, if they wanted to sneak their way back into school with the rest of the kids enjoying their Hogsmeade weekend without getting caught. And although Ru flagrantly ignored the rules most of the time, they seemed oddly concerned about the others’ feelings on the matter, for once.

“Don’t want your whole future getting derailed right as you’re reaching the finish line, do you?” they said rather gruffly.

Estrid had almost never heard the kelpie think of the future that way before. But, of course, even then...it was their friends’ futures. Not their own. Because they didn’t think they’d have any chance of a future themselves...

As the four sat together at the table in the Three Broomsticks, chatting and laughing over some butterbeers and pickled oysters, a fiery, robust feeling was slowly forming in Estrid’s chest, crystallizing and hardening like some kind of flaming hot diamond. 

Ru deserved a future. Even if they had once drowned somebody and stolen his identity -- even if they’d nearly eaten a first year -- they’d grown so much since then, and Estrid had seen there was so much more to them since then. Ru deserved to be able to keep living as a human as long as they wanted. They deserved to live their life to its fullest, even if it was short. They deserved to have somewhere safe to go, even if everyone else found out the truth about what they were and turned their backs on them. ...They deserved to be happy. 

“Estrid?”

Estrid felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up. It was Ru, looming over her like a shadow as always.

“Everyone’s getting ready to leave,” they prompted her.

Estrid looked up. All the students in the Three Broomsticks were gathering together in a clump that migrated toward the door. Galen and Siobhan had already started heading out too, whispering amongst themselves -- Galen shot a very quick glance over his shoulder at them and smiled before turning back to Siobhan. 

“...So they are,” said Estrid.

Despite this, she found herself not immediately getting to her feet. She stayed seated for another moment, her eyes on the table. She could sense Ru watching her, but they didn’t speak again. They sensed that she was deep in thought and decided not to interrupt. It was something Estrid appreciated about Ru -- they were never afraid of silence. 

Estrid closed her eyes, exhaled through her nose, and then opened her mouth to speak. Unfortunately, before she could, a voice cut her off.

“Come on, lovebirds!” crowed a particularly obnoxious Hufflepuff boy. “Don’t want to be left behind, do you?”

Both Ru and Estrid shot the boy a very dirty glare.

“We’re not lovebirds, Wilfred,” Estrid shot back dully. 

She sighed. 

“...What is it you like to say about silence being better than stuffing the space with useless words?” she asked Ru, her voice touched with dry amusement.

Ru avoided her eyes, frowning deeply again. “...Hn.”

The amusement slid off of Estrid’s face. No snarky response again?

“Ru?” she asked. 

“What?” said Ru. 

“Are you...” Estrid bit her lip, “...is there something on your mind?”

Ru gave a loud bluster through their nose and mouth. “I would damn well hope so -- I don’t know how so many people go around with nothing in their heads...”

Estrid relaxed noticeably despite herself. 

“Well, now you’re sounding more like yourself, at least,” she said with another light sigh and a small smile. She rose from the bench at last. “Come on then...suppose we’d better catch up with Galen...”

She’d barely gotten all the way to her feet when she suddenly felt a light tap to her cheek. 

Estrid turned her head. Ru had brought a hand up beside her face, their long pointer finger and thumb only touching her skin just enough to prompt her to look at them. They’d also bent down enough that the collar of their jacket gaped slightly, showing off the Adam’s apple and the top of the pale chest under their silver chain, and that Estrid’s and their faces were only a few inches apart. 

“Estrid...”

Ru swallowed. Something seemed to harden in their electric blue eyes, and they plowed on bluntly. 

“...Look -- I’m attracted to you, okay?”

Estrid gave a light start, but Ru pressed on, undeterred. 

“I know it’s stupid, but I like you. I don’t need you to act any differently, and I’m not going to prance about like a show horse trying to make you like me too. If you don’t like me as I am, I’m not going to change myself so you do. The only reason I’m telling you is…”

They glanced away uncomfortably. 

“...Well, for once, everyone else isn’t being stupid when they talk about me being interested in you – and I just thought you aughta know.”

They looked her full-on again. 

“Now you do.”

Estrid was left speechless. Ru’s electric blue eyes were very intense, and more serious than she thought she’d ever seen them, as they removed their hands from Estrid’s shoulder and away from her face. 

It was strange, for Ru’s face to be so serious. It made them look oddly grounded, steadfast...dedicated. Ru had never been particularly suave or romantic in their manner of speaking, but the bluntness in their tone only seemed to highlight how very truthful and sincere the sentiment behind their words was. It was...really quite sweet. It was like Ru had rested a warm hand over her heart, along with lightly touching her face. A hand that made her feel fuller and happier than she had in a really long time.

Estrid had already come to the thought that Ru wanted to stay as they were, as a human -- to keep enjoying little human pleasures like wearing earrings and taking pictures...but now she also knew for a fact that if Ru could...they would also stay. They wouldn’t just charge off into the sunset and disappear. They might even, if she asked, not hate the idea of living like a human -- of having a job and a home like a human, of dealing with everyday human problems...of settling down and laying down roots and...staying. 

If she asked...Ru might stay.

“Ru...”

Estrid reached out and took hold of the red sleeve of their jacket, preventing them from completely straightening up. 

“...Come home with me.”

Ru stiffened. “What?”

“After graduation,” Estrid clarified. Her words came out at a bit of a rush, despite her best efforts. “You can stay with my grandfather and me in Denmark. I’m sure Grandfather won’t mind. You could look into a job with the Daily Prophet -- they could use someone who knows what they’re doing with photography. And if you’re sending stuff in through Owl Post, no one’ll notice if you don’t look human...I can always answer the door, if someone comes to call and you’re not yourself...”

Ru stared down at her, not quite comprehending what they were hearing. Estrid could feel her face flushing, but she kept a brave face on all the same.

“...You don’t have to stay here all alone, Ru,” she said under her breath so no one else could hear. “I’ll help you protect your secret. And even if everyone does find out what you really are...I’ll stand by you.”

Ru seemed stunned. Their electric blue eyes ran over Estrid’s face, dipping in and out of her eyes and into the corners of her lips. They didn’t say anything for a long moment, but Estrid could sense they were searching her face for any flicker of doubt. When they didn’t find any, their face seemed to lose the rest of its color. 

They bit their lip, looking hesitant in a way Estrid had never seen before.

“...You want me to follow you?” they asked very lowly. “To live with you?”

Estrid’s cheeks were burning, but she nodded all the same. 

“Yes,” she said. 

And as soon as she said the word, she realized how deeply and sincerely she meant it. 

She wanted Ru to follow her. She...wanted them to stay with her.

Ru’s expression seemed to clear. Their face broke into a broad, beautiful smile, full of both a childish kind of delight and quiet, soothing relief. They bowed their head toward Estrid, their lightning-like eyes sparkling just like the silver chain on their neck. 

“...Well, then...” 

Ru brought a hand up to tuck some hair behind Estrid’s ear, trailing their long fingers through it so that it lay flat. 

“...Guess you’ll be my ‘keeper’ a bit longer then...won’t you?”

Estrid felt her own lips curling up in a smile too. “...Guess so.”

“You’d better keep a tight hold of me,” Ru said with a mischievous smile. “Kelpies don’t tame easily.”

“Oh yes, I’m very well aware,” Estrid said coolly. “Your lack of table manners alone make that obvious.”

“Humans have hands, we may as well use them.”

Once Estrid’s hair was smooth enough for Ru’s liking, the kelpie’s smile grew a bit more wry as they extended their arm to her in a mockingly over-the-top formal gesture. 

“Lead and I’ll follow, madam,” they said dryly. 

Biting back a laugh, Estrid brought her arm down onto Ru’s and started to walk with them toward the door.

“Oh...and Ru?”

“Yeah?”

Estrid moved up onto the tips of her toes as she walked and just barely managed to graze their chin with her lips. 

“I like you too,” she said softly. 

Ru looked down at her, startled. They examined her face again, searching it for any hint of insincerity or teasing, but Estrid merely smiled.

“It is weird,” she admitted, “considering everything we’ve gone through -- where we started...”

“...What I really am,” Ru pointed out lowly, cocking an eyebrow.

Estrid nodded. “But, well...I guess both of us were always a little weird, to begin with.”

Very slowly, Ru’s lips spread into another beautiful smile, purer and happier than ever. They moved into Estrid, leaning down enough to rest their head down on her shoulder and gently nuzzle the crook of her neck. 

“More than a little,” they whispered into her skin. 

With a light pink flush to her cheeks, Estrid secured her hold on Ru’s arm, and Ru straightened up again as she led them out. 

The pair left the pub together, perfectly unaware of how many people around them were exchanging Galleons.

Turns out that Ru and Estrid had been the subject of quite a few bets around both Hogwarts and Hogmeade village. 

[dialovers-translations]

Diabolik Lovers GRAND EDITION for Switch ;; More, Blood ー Yuma Maniac [Prologue]

Monologue

ーー I could not get the concept of a livestock’s pride,

out of my head.

Since I became one of them, some time had passed.

Compared to the other kids my age, I had a large frame,

and my battle skills weren’t all too shabby either,

so whenever a fight broke out, 

I more often than not found myself by Boss’ side.

That day, I ended up finding out

about Boss’ secret.

Opposite to the fear I experienced at that time,

afraid of getting kicked out of the group,

Boss actually began to pay even more attention to me.

No, it was something slightly different.

Unlike before, it seemed as if Boss,

was seeking support from me.

While chowing down on the food he acquired through his secret activities,

we would talk about the most trivial things.

It was such a simple thing,

yet I came to realize that only during those times,

a pressure seemed to be lifted off Boss’ heart.

That is when I first found out.

That even Boss had a hard time,

burdening everything by himself.

It is so obvious when you think about it.

No matter how reliant or amazing of a guy he may have been,

in the end, he was still a young boy.

Boss was not much older than me,

he was still just a child after all.

However, even when I thought of him that way,

my respect for him did not falter.

If anything, knowing he still lived strong despite that,

I admired him.

ー The scene starts with a flashback in the city

*THUD*

Gang member A: Ugah...!

Bear: Ahーahー ...Can you guys not even read a calendar? Ah? I thought we decided we’d settle the score in three days?

See? As you can tell, this message was delivered from you guys’ boss to ours. He was even kind enough to attach a knife with it.

So why are you two here to try and strike while I least expect it? (1) What’s the meaning behind that, huh? You wanted to meet me that badly?

Gang member B: ...Because we have a bone to pick with you! We wanted to at least get one good hit off on you before you all get wiped out!

*Swoosh*

Bear: Wiped out, you say!?

*THUD*

Gang member B: Uguh!

Bear: You really think our whole squad would get wiped out by you little punks? Just how highly do you think of yourself?

Gang member B: ...Heh, hahaha!

Bear: Disgusting. Whatcha laughing for?

Gang member B: Nobody expects it. And that’s exactly why we aimed for those three days.

Bear: Ah...?

Gang member A: Oi, don’t say any more! Let’s go!

Gang member B: Che, guess we’ve got no other choice...!

*Rustle*

Bear: ...Hold it!

ー The other gang members run away

Bear: ...What do they mean...?

*TIMESKIP*

Lucks: ーー The day has finally come.

Once the morning dawns, we’ll go settle the score with those guys. Anyone under the age of ten remains here. You’ll be in charge of protecting the hideout until we return.

Everyone coming with me is all ready to go, right?

Comrade A: Yeah!

Comrade B: More than ever, Boss! We’ve set everything up perfectly for today.

Lucks: Don’t overdo it. Lately the military has been patrolling the city as well. They’re not the kind of guys you want to get involved with.

Bear: ...

Lucks: Oi, Bear? Are you listening?

Bear: Eh? Ah, yeah. What?

Lucks: What’s wrong with you? You look so gloomy. With you looking like that, it’ll affect the spirit of our team!

Bear: My bad...Say, Boss. Shouldn’t we think this over one more time?

Lucks: You’re still saying that? Are you that worried about what they said?

They all talk big like that, no? It’s basically a greeting at this point.

Bear: That’s true but...I have a bad feeling about this. For some reason, I feel restless...

Lucks: Hehe...Bear, you might excel in terms of your built and physique, but you’re more of a coward than I thought.

Bear: Boss! I am seriouslyーー!

*Rustle*

Lucks: Don’t worry. Nothing bad will happen.

We’ve been in plenty of fights up till now, right? However, we always came out victorious.

And if we defeat those guys today, we will finally stand at the very top of this city.

In short, we’ll have conquered the very bottom layer of this country. Do you understand what that means? It’s the first step towards our ‘dream’.

We’re not out to kill each other or anything. Well, I’m sure some blood will be spilt regardless. 

We might call each other the enemy, but we’re actually also comrades living in the same place. The real threat are the rich, not them.

Despite everything, I like the kids living here. They’re headstrong, genuine and strong.

Which is why I won’t let them fight ever again once I reach the top. I’ll start by changing my own surroundings like that.

Bear: ...

Lucks: Besides, I’m here for you guys. And so are you all for me. How could we possibly lose?

Bear: ...Yeah, you’re right.

( He’s right. I’m sure this is all just my imagination. ...But you know, Boss. )

( I still have a bad feeling about this. I know that there’s just no possible way we lose, but there’s this uneasy feeling in my chest... )

( ...Please let it just be my imagination. )

Monologue

...Back then,

if only I had stopped Boss even by force,

would he have...would everyone have,

possibly survived?

In those filthy quarters, wearing dirty clothes,

but eating the same food,

as we all became adults together...

...I wonder if Boss,

would have been able to fulfill his dreams...?

ー The scene shifts to another flashback in the city

Comrade A: ...What...on earth is that...?

Comrade B: A tank...!? From the army...!?

Bear: ( ...Those bastards! They really planned to set us up after allーー!! )

Military member: An armed gang has been spotted. We can assume they are a rebellious group as stated in the information we received. Commence suppression!

Lucks: ! You guys, ruーー...!!

*BANG BANG*

Monologue

ーー We were children.

Despite calling this a fight,

somewhere inside our hearts,

we believed it to be impossible to lose our lives in just a kids’ quarrel.

I’m sure that the thought of their comrades dying, their Boss dying,

or even themselves dying,

did not even cross their minds.

Before the overwhelming force in front of us,

we were utterly powerless.

Bear: ...

...Boss...Hey...Open your eyes...

Aren’t you the one who said...I’d have to watch you till the bitter end...?

But you never told me it would be like this...! ...Damnit...!

Military member: ーー A survivor has been spotted. Kill him.

*BANG*

ー The flashback ends as the scene shifts to the kitchen

*Rustle rustle*

Yui: Ah, Yuma-kun! Geez, you’re searching the fridge again...Dinner will be served soon, you know?

Yuma: I’m hungry right now. Actin’ all high and mighty tryin’ to lecture me, huh, Sow?

Besides, it’s ‘cause ya always take forever makin’ our meals.

Yui: ( I started on it as soon as I got back from school, so rushing me any more would be... )

*Rustle rustle*

Yui: ( Ahーah... Today he’s going for a whole package of sausages... )

Yuma: ...

...Oi.

Yui: Yes?

Yuma: Who’s that dude from the other day?

Yui: Eh?

Yuma: That NEET on the staircase.

Yui: Staircase...Aah, you mean Shuu-san? He’s the eldest son of the Sakamaki family. Sakamaki Shuu-san.

Yuma: ...Do ya think I’m dumb? (2) I obviously know that much!

Yui: T-Then why did you ask?

Yuma: This prey really doesn’t get a hint...Is yer head completely empty or somethin’, aahn!?

I’m askin’ what kinda dude the eldest son of those Sakamaki bastards is!

Yui: What kind...?

( He basically wants to know Shuu-san’s personality? Hm... )

A listless...person, I guess? To put it simply.

Yuma: Haah? That isn’t ‘simple’ at all.

Yui: But if I had to put it some other way...He always seems exhausted, for example...?

I’m pretty sure his only interests are music and sucking blood. Also napping.

Yuma: Haah...He’s an actual NEET. (3) Anyway, and that guy’s the eldest son? It pisses me off how those on top are always too lazy to do anythin’.

...No, I guess that’s exactly why he’s like that. He can get his ass on the throne just by sleepin’ after all. Whatever. What else?

Yui: There’s also...Don’t ask me about the details, but I heard he went through quite a lot in the past...

Yuma: ...The fuck? Did he almost get himself killed or somethin’?

Yui: Like I said, I’m not quite sure eithーー

*THUD*

Yui: Kyah...!

Yuma: You do know, don’t you? Ya had them wrapped ‘round yer lil’ finger with that body of yers, didn’t ya? Ah?

So don’t tell me ya don’t know their secrets.

Yui: I’ve told you before, I never...

*THUD*

Yui: ...!

Yuma: Oi...I don’t think you’re that stupid but, you’re not tryin’ to cover for those bastards, are ya?

Yui: Cover...?

Yuma: Aren’t ya hidin’ all and any information which could put them at a disadvantage from us? Aahn?

Okay...Listen up!

Right now, you are our livestock and my toy. In short, we are yer owners.

If ya dare betray us ーー I will kill ya. I’d mess ya up real good, we could actually feed ya to the pigs and cows once I’m done with ya. (4)

Yui: ...Uu...

Yuma: ...Heh. You’re just gonna stand there quietly, shiverin’ in fear again? Ya really are so borin’.

Just don’t betray us then? As long as ya can do that, I can look past minor slip-ups.

‘Course, I have a limit. If ya make too much of a fuss...

ー Yuma grabs hold of her

Yui: ...! What are you doing...!?

Yuma: I’ll teach ya while I’m at it. What kind of punishment would be waitin’ you, that is.

Well? I’m pretty sure yer body is already used to this, whether ya like it or not. 

ー He bites her

Yui: ...!

Yuma: Nn...Phew...

Yui: ...Nn...!

*Rustle*

Yui: ( Ah...! )

Yuma-kun...! The pot! The stove is still on...

Yuma: Aahn? Who cares ‘bout that crap? Just keep still!

Yui: No! If it boils for too long, the noodles will become overcooked and it won’t be good...

Yuma: ...Che, pasta out of all things? I can think of at least one person who will throw a tantrum if that happens.

Yui: If you understand, let me go...!

Yuma: Won’t do. If ya want me to stop that badly, then try and stop me yerself.

Yui: No way...!

( How should I do that when he’s holding onto me with his full strength...!? )

Nn...Nn...!

Yuma: Hehe...Do ya really think ya can slip free like that? You’re basically just shiverin’.

Don’t overestimate yerself too much, ‘kay?

‘Cause you’re the one who will end up regrettin’ it in the end...

Yui: ...!

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to the dining room

Kou: ...What’s this...? I don’t want to eat this mushy mess!

Yui: I-I’m sorry, Kou-kun. I was going to boil a new batch, but we ran out of pasta...

( I got yelled at as to be expected... )

Kou: Then please give me a reward instead.

Let’s see...Fufu, I’ll forgive you if you let me suck your blood, okay? Say, what do you think?

Yui: W-What I think...?

*Thud*

Yuma: If ya continue spoutin’ that bullshit, you’ll be takin’ one hefty blow ‘gainst that face you’re so damn proud of!

Ruki: Yuma. We’re in the middle of our meal.

Azusa: Don’t worry, the pasta is safe...Hey, Yuma...You can hit me instead if you’d like?

Yuma: Ya stupid!?

Kou: Geez~ What are you getting so upset for? I was just messing around a little. Joking is what we idols do! (6)

Yuma: Do you see me laughin’!? As her caretaker, I’m obviously the one who has to blame her whenever she messes up! Don’t try and take my job!

Yui: ( Actually, it’s Yuma-kun’s fault the pasta overcooked in the first place... )

( Speaking of which, I wonder why Yuma-kun asked about Shuu-san earlier? )

ーー TO BE CONTINUED ーー

Translation notes

(1) Yuma uses the word 寝込み or ‘nekomi’ which literally implies that they tried to attack him ‘in his sleep’. However, I think this is meant to be taken less literal in this case, but refers to the fact that they were expecting an attack in 3 days, so they could have been caught off guard. 

(2) Literally he says ‘are you looking down on me/are you underestimating me?’ but ‘do you think I’m dumb’ sounded better in this context.

(3) A NEET stands for a person who isn’t in education or training, implying that they don’t work but aren’t currently in school either. They have a very bad reputation for being ‘lazy’, simply wasting their life away at home, sitting at the computer, watching TV, etc.

(4) Yuma says he would mess her up so badly, she could actually become ‘food for livestock’ by the end of it.

(5) In Japanese, the expression for overcooking noodles in Japanese is ‘麺が伸びる’ or ‘men ga nobiru’ which literally means ‘the noodles will stretch’, referring to them being too plump/soft because they cooked for too long.

(6) Kou calls it an アイドルジョーク or ‘Idol joke’ which isn’t a term I’m actually familiar with. I do know that idols in Japan appear on TV quite often and a lot of those programs are geared towards comedy, so I assume having a decent sense of humor is a must if you want to be a Japanese idol. xD

→  LIKE MY TRANSLATIONS? SUPPORT ME ON KO-FI!

<- [ Dark Epilogue ] [ Maniac 01 ] ->

[romansrace]

Season 13 Sassy Reviews: Episode 02 - Condragulations

Oh mama. This one didn’t do anything to address the strangely - and unnecessarily - tense atmosphere, and instead actively stirred the pot with bizarre remarks from Tina, Kandy and LaLa, and our first (but surely not last) instance of blatant producer favour.

Let’s get into it.

So episode 2 opens with the Porkchop girls being forced to *actually*, no gag, vote off one of their own people based just off of first impressions. Because...what we really needed in 2020/21 was for a group of marginalized people who had had their income and culture taken away for six months to, on first meeting nationwide-reaching colleagues who could become friends and found family, to be instead forced to create divisions between themselves. Really?

So the group votes out the kooky queen and the queen wearing the least feminine clothing, and then when it comes down to a re-vote on just those two...production makes all the queens vote again until a sacrifice is chosen. Seriously unpleasant stuff. Rosé, the queen who objects most virulently to this, is painted as haughty and self-important by the edit for...literally raising valid concerns and trying to stand up for the group. So I guess our hopes of the show moving on from having a vendetta against Jan and any of her friends are crushed just like that.

Then we cut over to the ‘winner’ group of queens. Production-influenced or not, they spend a LOT of the episode crowing and boasting about how brilliant they are, after all, they’ve all made the massive achievement of.... being voted by Ru to win a lipsync in the previous episode, including some VERY questionable performances.

The BIG TWIST that no-one could have seen coming is that... gasp, MAYBE the 7 eliminated queens weren’t actually eliminated on day one of a show that hasn’t had less than 9 competitors ever. And then the queen the losing girls voted out, Elliott with 2 Ts, is introduced to join the winning girls.

As I said in my previous review, it feels really bizarre in the same season that every second word out of Ru’s mouth is chicken soup for the soul about self-love and how actually they’re all winners, to actively go out of your way to split girls into two groups, one of Losers and one of Winners, in which the Winners get smoke blown up their ass about how they are better, and kind of reinforced by the show by focusing on them and only them in episode 2. Especially if they’re going to just proceed to do a split premiere group challenge LIKE THEY DID IN THE LAST SEASON without needing an arbitrary way to justify dividing the girls.

Anyway, the dolls have exactly the same mini and maxi as E1/2 of S12, which... I’m not sure how I feel about. Obviously everyone really enjoyed it in season 12, but a straight redo feels lazy.

Mini-challenge: present two runway looks with a loosely connected theme. Maxi: perform a RuMix with original verses to a new Ru song. Runway theme: a material.

So onto the mini first. All of the queens do broadly as well as each other, with - to my eye - Gottmik being head and shoulders above the group nailing both runways, Olivia Lux’s day look being the second best look on the runway, Tina Burner doing the most impressive bodywork out of the group on her night look, managing to compress her substantial body into a tiny vinyl-latex-esque miniskirt and tube top, and Symone being wildly overpraised for simply having a slim and fit physique that she decorated with material, a la Courtney Act from S6 or Naomi Smalls from S8. Brace yourselves, because this won’t be the first time.

The maxi challenge is a hot mess. The song isn’t great, and the queens take wildly varying approaches in terms of style, genre, and tempo. If you thought Roxxxy Andrews’ random singing on Read U Wrote U was out-of-place... for Condragulations (providing an episode title drop) by my count, three queens give us a rap, two queens sing, one queen gives us spoken word and one queen (Gottmik) gives us literally two bars as an intro.

And onn that note, there’s a bizarre production moment during the rehearsals for the performance in which a moment in which Gottmik experiences gender dysphoria, for including his gender identity in his verse - “I was born a girl” (which, in itself... is that really how a trans person would self-describe rather than e.g. AFAB? I kind of feel like I don’t know how I feel about that line going out to a straight audience) - is represented as Gottmik not having any idea that the other queens would hear his verse. In a group challenge. Where the challenge is to each perform a verse of the same song, as a group, in front of each other. Ok Henny.

The choreography is not great in the challenge, with the best performance of the group going imo to the underrated Elliott, who is, of course, a dancer. Despite the fact that Tina Burner, having lipsynced against her in E1, was well aware of this, Elliott was shut out of the choreography discussion by the other girls - who throughout the episode gave Elliott the cold shoulder & even, bizarrely accused her of being a spy! - for who, QAnon?? Elliott, not wanting to rock the boat, kept quiet, only to go on to NAIL her own performance with a jump split and impressive, confident verse, with dance elements throughout.

So naturally she wasn’t put in the top 2 for the episode, despite everything in the storyline pointing to the ONLY REASON you would separate the queens into winners and losers and then bring back a loser would be for a redemption (RuDemption?) arc. Nope!

The top 2 queens are of course...Olivia Lux, who to be fair, performed her socks off in the challenge and wisely wore an outfit that accentuated her movement, and...Symone. Again. Who wore this.

Whose verse consisted of a walk to the center of the stage and pretty poor lyrics and vocal (”the ebony enchantress...is me” is giving Mariah in all the worst ways). Who looked a little manic during the performance. But who - like Ru - is tall, slim, and statuesque. Anyone else getting S2/S3 flashbacks?

Off the bat let’s make something clear. I don’t dislike Symone. I think she’s a fierce queen, I think she definitely won the top 2 lipsync, I think she’s an excellent lipsync performer, and she has a great body and a great swagger as a drag queen. And I know she can do flips and acrobatics if it calls for it - look for yourself on youtube.

But I think favoritism drags the show down, and ESPECIALLY - as we saw in S12, too - when applied to queens like Symone who are ALREADY among the strongest of the group. Let’s face it, on skill alone, Symone is likely to pick up at least 3 wins of the 11 weeks of this contest. So why stack the deck by giving her an early 4th?

Olivia Lux, the other top 2 queen, performed decently in the lipsync, but was perhaps a bit literal with the lyrics. Her runway gown was highly praised by the judges, but for me was on the simpler side, although she definitely sold it with her walk and attitude. All other queens were given an equal Safe this week which... may or may not have been used to shield the worst performers overall this week, Gottmik and Kandy, who were unsure of themselves during the performance and made a few slips.

I’m ending this week as I ended the last one - wary, but hopeful. After such a focus on how entitled and unpleasant the Winners were in this episode, perhaps the next episode will cast the Losers in a more sympathetic light. My favorite and second-favorite queen, Tamisha, and Denali, are in that group, and I’m hoping to get good confessionals and meme-worthy moments from them if nothing else. And also, I’d hope that this team have bonded and will give a better performance as a group as a result. Although the threat to eliminate one of them next week given by Ru at the end of this one seems like insult to injury in terms of creating division.

Was S12 a fluke? Will S13 be another S11? Will I start genuinely liking any of this? Be here next week to find out~ xoxo

[keelywolfe]

FIC: Biting Off More Than You Can Chew; part 12

Summary: It's the morning after Rus's heat. Time for a little truth or consequence.

Tags: heatfic, dubious consent, NSFW, frenemies to lovers, mates, first time, more if I think of them

PLEASE READ THE TAGS: This is a Heat story, so there are going to be issues of consent. I don’t do partner rape, nope, but hey, I want to be straight with y’all. I like heatfics personally, but I understand how they can be troubling for some people. So there it is.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6

Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11

~~*~~

Read Chapter 12 on AO3

or

Read it here!

~~*~~

Rus was dead. It was the only explanation for how shitty he felt.

Being dead sure as hell sounded better than dealing with all the aches and pains he could feel settling into his bones. Better than dealing with the trickle of memory that was starting to soak into his thoughts, of spending the last night in a heat-induced haze of fucking, and by the shiny damned stars, having sex all night long only sounded good if you were getting paid by the hour. Anyone off the clock needed some damn sleep after a while and that was a fact.

Since dead people didn’t need sleep, though, Rus was gonna have to come to the regrettable conclusion that he was alive, in which case he might actually have to deal with some shit.

In the positive column, his soul felt…okay. Settled. That seemed like a good word for it or maybe deeply satisfied would be better. A miles-deep itch luxuriously scratched with a firm application of dick. A quick trip over into the negatives was he felt like every single one of his bones had a bruise fucked into it somewhere.

Also, he desperately wanted a cigarette and oh, yeah, he was in Edge’s bed and the last time that happened, the waking up didn’t exact rate a 10 on the hospitality scale. He could feel the presence of a body behind him and unless some serious changes in time and space happened while he was out cold, it was a good guess that it was Edge. Yay.

Welp, since he wasn’t dead, there was nothing for it. Cautiously, Rus eased over to take a gander.

Edge was there, all right, sound asleep, rusty-dark circles beneath his sockets. Stood to reason he’d still be zonked; he’d been along for the entire bouncy ride and stuck around for the cleanup. That was something to be grateful for right there. The bond between them felt oddly empty, like it was lying dormant. Rus prodded at it mentally like poking at a sore tooth and there was only the faintest pulse of response, not even enough for Edge to stir.

Yeah, buddy was tired, he deserved a chance to sleep in, right, job well done and all that shit. Hopefully, he wouldn’t be too pissed off if he slept through his shift, but Rus wasn’t sticking around to find out. Time to get out before black comedy took a left turn back to the drama category.

Didn’t exactly start off well; the second Rus tried to climb out of bed, it felt like this morphed from porn to some kind of stealth game. First objective, slithering off the mattress without moving it enough to wake the Edgelord. Next, his clothes were scattered to the four corners of the room, forcing Rus to tiptoe around to gather them up. At least they weren’t hard to find. Aside from his loose wardrobe, the room was neat as a pin.

Rus slipped his clothes back on, grimacing at the lingering dampness on his tank top and at the crotch of his pants. He sure as hell hoped Muffet held on to the sweatshirt he’d left at her bar even if she charged a cleaning fee, it was one of his favorites. Thinking of Muffet made him wince. His reputation was going to take a hell of a beating over last night or at least start up a Scooby Doo style mystery.

He’d deal with that later. Wasn’t much he could do about his clothes now, he wasn’t hanging around to do laundry, and he only needed to wear them long enough for a couple shortcuts.

Done and done, time to hit bricks and if the shortcut down to the machine woke Edge, all he could do was send an annoyed text. Yep, it was time to go, back home where he didn’t have to think about anything he didn’t want to, tuck all this shit about heats and bonds and who-the-fuck-knew else back into the dark, dusty corners of his mind while he focused on naps and smoking. Back to the ol’ basics.

Except, Rus still found himself hesitating, looking back where Edge was sleeping curled up beneath the rumpled blankets.

Rus’s soul gave an uncomfortable throb. Edge looked so damn young when he was asleep. All of the sharp corners and creases that bound him up during the day eased, leaving his skull smoother and the cracks that ran through his socket starker, more poignant. A pretty unwelcome reminder that he was the same age as Blue…and that he’d never had sex before, fucking hell, what a way to lose any vestiges of virginity a guy had, both times in a feverish, heat-induced marathon. Rus wasn’t an expert on the mornings-after, okay, he’d only slept over by accident a few other times. Dropped unconscious was more accurate, he’d been drunk as hell every time. Sneaking out for a hasty walk of shame while his nighttime companion and/or mistake was still out cold was fine on those occasions, but this time? Seemed kinda rude, what with the whole soul bond thing. Maybe really rude.

Besides, could be if Rus stuck around, he’d get breakfast out of the deal again.

That hooked it. He’d stay until Edge got up and see how this played out, and if it started with, any version of, ‘Why are you still here?’, he’d hit bricks. He rubbed his chest right over his soul, mentally ordering it to quit with the whining, he was staying, okay?

For now, he needed a damned cigarette. That itchy craving might be a pale comparison to driving heat crawling through his bones, but it didn’t mean it wasn’t irritating. The crumpled pack in his pants pocket held two mangled butts and his lighter. It’d have to do.

Rus stepped outside the bedroom door and carefully closed it before taking shortcut down to the front porch, already shaking out a cig before he sat down. It was cold outside, the sudden chill refreshing on his bones. The soothing rush of nicotine was all the better coupled with the linger ache in his bones. Nothing like a smoke after getting laid.

Not that ‘getting laid’ really lived up to the experience, now did it. That first time had been something, but his turn in the heat box was…fuck. That shit had been something else, the memory a blurry mess of pleasure and hot aching, his soul uncaring as it slowly collapsed into pain and dragged his dick along for the ride. If that was what it was like with a helper along, Rus didn’t even want to think about what it might be like to endure it alone. Someone needed to ask evolution for a refund, because that didn’t qualify under normal wear and tear.

Then again, if getting knocked up kept a Monster from having to go through that, it was a hell of an incentive.

A shadow fell over him and Rus looked up. And up, and up, at a hulking bear Monster, radiating LV without even a check, their beady, reddened eyes focused laser-sharp on Rus.

Yeah, okay, that was a hell of a wake-up call to remind him he was still in Underfell.

“Hey, there precious,” the Bear said, low and growling. “don’t you smell delicious?”

Welp, that was ominous on about three different levels, four if Rus could use complex mathematics, but this guy looked like 2 + 2 might tax his skill level.

Suddenly, Rus was feeling a lot more self-conscious about his tank top; there was a reason he normally bundled up in a sweatshirt and it wasn’t because he couldn’t take the temps.

Before Rus could decide whether to take his chances telling them to piss off, or shortcut out and ruin one of his last cigarettes, a familiar voice said from behind the Bear, “might wanna take another whiff there, smokey, that one’s taken.”

The Bear did, loudly, nostrils flaring, and Rus would’ve sworn he paled even though his face was covered in fur. He ducked his head and it was more than a little bemusing to see him so subservient to a guy not even half their height, muttering out, “Sorry, Red, I didn’t know.”

“uh huh,” Red hooked a thumb towards town, “you got a free whiff, now fuck off.”

The Bear dropped down to all fours and waddled hastily away. Rus watched him go, their tail waggling like a flag of surrender. Then he looked back at Red.

Red looked like Red, that ever-present smirk of his lingering on his mouth. He tucked his hands into his pockets and rocked on his sneakered heels. “you shouldn’t be outside yet,” Red said, “you still reek and some of the dimmer bulbs won’t check who you belong to, since the boss hasn’t bothered to put a collar on you yet.”

“yet?” Rus took a long drag, snorting out smoke through his nasal cavity. “yeah, i don’t think so. i don’t belong to anyone.”

“don’t take it so hard. he belongs to you, too,” Red sounded resigned. As if had any fucking right to, as if this whole clusterfuck wasn’t his fault, and yeah, it might’ve still gone down this way if Red just told him about this, maybe handed over that fabled heat manual along with the rock and the hard place, but at least Rus would’ve had a choice. At least this would be all his bad decisions, that much he was used to. Not Red using him like a bandage, slapping him over his brother’s wound and expecting him to soak up all the juices.

Only to find out it wasn’t as easy to toss him out afterward and fuck it, Rus was losing the metaphor, but the point stood. Red didn’t have a right to sound like that, fucking prick.

What all this really came down to was that there was a choice to make here, and the bitch of it was, Rus already knew what one he was going to make.

Rus sighed and held out the pack of cigarettes, and after a minute, Red took the last one, tossing the crumpled pack on the ground where Edge was probably gonna find it and bitch about it. Red sat down next to him on the step and took the silently offered lighter, too. They sat there for a while, smoking in the quiet morning and honestly, what a laugh, right? Red and Sans could hold onto a grudge in both their greasy little hands until the Universe went to dust and Rus’s soft little soul folded like a card house after one shouting match.

Seriously, Red really knew how to pick his scapegoats, didn’t he.

“i really hate you, you know,” Rus said conversationally. The artificial light was getting brighter. If he were back home, Rus would already be napping at his sentry station.

Red only chuckled humorlessly, “there’s another thing you and my bro have in common.”

“your brother doesn’t hate you.”

Red shrugged, flicking ash across the snow mounded around their porch. “wouldn’t know. haven’t seen him since his heat.”

“what?” That sure as hell got Rus’s attention. Yeah, Red skipped out on movie night, but Rus hadn’t known it was that bad. “you live here.”

Red’s grin was blade-sharp, his eye lights firmly on his untied shoes. “see that’s the thing about being able to shortcut. you don’t have to see anybody you don’t wanna.”

“true.” But Rus couldn’t help but wonder who didn’t want to see who, ‘cause if Red did all this for his brother, it was pretty damn hard to believe that he’d ditch him over the fallout. “edge is still pretty pissed, huh.”

Not that Rus had a leg to stand on in that fight, not when he was still pissed off himself. Once Edge figured out who sent Rus into the lion’s heat den—an extremely short list of suspects— stood to reason he’d be steamed.

Red said nothing. He flicked his burnt-out butt into the snow and pulled a slim silver case out of his pocket. Weirdly posh for him but when he opened it, there was a neat row of those little cigars that he liked to smoke. He held the case out, offering, and fuck it, Rus took one. Nicotine was nicotine, even if the harsh smoke made him cough. When Red made a move to pat him on the back, Rus leaned away, glaring through his cough.

“don’t,” Rus wheezed out. “don’t touch me.” He took a couple deep, clean breaths, and added, “we aren’t good, i want you to know that. we aren’t friends. you fucked me over good with this shit.”

“yeah. i did.” Red didn’t argue. He smoked his cigar and looked out at the snow drifts around them. At his battered version of Snowdin, his world that was so fucked up that it forced Monsters to go into heat and nearly die themselves to keep the population up.

Rus sighed, absently twirling the cigar between his fingers. “but if you want, i’ll try and help you get back in with your bro.”

That got Red’s attention. He turned to Rus, sockets narrowed suspiciously. “why would you do that?”

“because edge didn’t ask for any of this shit, either,” Rus said, low, “and now he’s stuck with me of all people, isn’t he. he doesn’t deserve to lose his brother, too, especially not in your shitheap of a world.” And it was a shitty, shitty thing Red did, but damned if Rus didn’t get it. What wouldn’t he do for his own bro? Might be better not to put it to the test.

Red said, dubiously, “don’t think that’s how he’d look at it—”

He didn’t get a chance to elaborate. Rus got the faintest impression of someone else’s panic at almost the exact moment the door swung open abruptly behind them and Edge came boiling out, nearly tripped ass over teakettle over them. His wild panic faded when he saw them, the flare of his eye lights dimming to confusion, “Why are you outside?”

Rus shrugged and held up the cigar in answer. “don’t worry, red is a good bodyguard.”

From the corner of his socket, Rus let his eye lights linger on Edge’s bare ribcage, the smooth, broad bones occasionally intersected with the scars of old cracks. The clotted bite mark on his sternum was stark in the artificial daylight and looking at it gave Rus a weird itch, echoed in the healed scar on his collarbone. Interesting to see that Edge hadn’t put on a shirt or even his boots. He was going to go searching in the snow in his bare feet, so panicked he was gonna chase Rus down without shoes.

Guess it was a good thing he decided not to leave. The last thing he needed was Edge showing up half-naked in Underswap Snowdin and tearing apart the town searching for him. That soul bond shit really did a number on a guy’s head, didn’t it, plus maybe some dregs of that heat lingering at the bottom of the mug.

He had the bond pulled in pretty tight right now, anyway. Rus didn’t feel a bit of Edge’s visible discomfort. His ungloved fingers clattered lightly against his skull as he ran a hand over it. “Both of you get inside.”

A direct order that neither Rus nor Red made any move to obey. Rus pinched out his cigar and tucked it into his pocket in case of a later nicotine emergency, then tipped his skull back to look at Edge, all that restless impatience turned upside down.

“you gonna make us some breakfast?” Rus asked lightly.

Edge’s eye lights settled on his and he stared at Rus, unblinking, and fuck only knew what he was seeing. Then they slowly slid to his brother’s back, at Red who was currently staring holes into the ground.

“Yes,” Edge agreed, slowly. “Now come inside.” He didn’t wait to see if they followed, turned on his bare heel and went back in, leaving the door open behind him. Red made a show about getting to his feet, tossing the cigar butt into the snow and giving his ass a lazy scratch. He was shifting impatiently by the time Rus did the same, minus the ass scratch, and shuffled inside.

Edge was waiting by the kitchen door. He said to Rus, “Why don’t you go upstairs and take a nap while I cook? You look like you could use a little more rest.”

“don’t have to tell me twice.” Especially since he suspected Edge wanted to talk with his brother without an audience. Welp, he’d gotten Red through the door, the rest was up to them.

Rus took a shortcut right up into Edge’s mussed bed. The sheets had already given up all the heat they’d collected overnight. Didn’t matter, they were still comfortable and the blankets plentiful. Rus burrowed in, sighing, and closing his sockets, firmly ignoring the spicy, sex-musty stink that was probably baked into the linens even as it made his soul twitch feebly with interest.

Nope, you had your fun, he told it sternly. Time to sit in the back seat until his pelvis felt less like it’d been used as a rocking horse.

Honestly, he didn’t mean to actually fall asleep or at least not as hard as he did, but he must’ve because the next thing Rus knew Edge was there, along with the tantalizing aroma of pancakes and coffee.

The spread was as good as the last time, golden-brown pancakes with a pat of melting butter pooled in the center, mingling with the drizzled honey. Tempting as that was, despite the hungry cry in his soul for sustenance, Rus reached for the coffee first. Only two notches above lukewarm with plenty of milk and sugar, just how he liked it.

Edge set the tray on the bed between them, digging into his plate of pancakes while Rus got close and personal with the coffee. Didn’t take long for him to finish his caffeinated bonding and start in on his own plate, groaning his bliss out around a mouthful of delicious caky sweetness.

“this is so good,” Rus mumbled, then before Edge could grouse about his tables manners in spite of the lack of table, he swallowed and added, “i could get used to being served breakfast in bed after a long night of heat sex.”

Edge’s fork paused almost too briefly to be seen, quickly cutting into his second pancake. “I think something like that could be arranged.”

It was lightly said, but the reminder made Rus grimace anyway. Yeah, if what Edge told him before held true, they were gonna be doing this every few months or so, weren’t they. A shitty situation all the way around, but fuck it, at least there might be future pancakes. He poked at a bite with his fork, the soft innards dissolving into a honey sludge.

As good as the food was, it was weirdly awkward to be sitting here eating pancakes, even more than it’d been the last time. Last time, Rus thought he was about to head home and all this would end up a footnote in his autobiography. Now Rus knew it was gonna end up as a chapter of its own and sitting here trying not to look at the bite mark he’d left on Edge’s sternum on the same bed where only a few hours ago he’d been putting in a good effort to pound Edge through the mattress was a little…yeah, awkward didn’t seem to quite cover it.

Reluctant as he was to think about last night, he did have some clear memories, and hadn’t he just been telling Red that none of this was Edge’s fault? Might be time to put his G where his big mouth was.

“i’m sorry for what i said last night,” Rus said bluntly. “it was shitty of me to blame all this on you.”

Edge didn’t even pause, only swallowed down his current mouthful and said, “I’m hardly going to hold what you say in heat against you. One of the first things in the manual is to not take things a heat-stricken Monster says personally.”

“yeah? that’s probably sound advice.” Rus dragged a bite of pancake through the leftover honey puddled on the plate, sopping it up. “i didn’t know how awful that was for you before. i suspected, you didn’t exactly seem like you were having a good time, but that?” Rus ducked his head, shuddering. “that was something else.”

“Being in heat is awful,” Edge agreed. “however, it shouldn’t be that bad again. Not according to the manual.”

“it’s word is law, huh?”

“After a few centuries of refinement, I’m willing to follow it.”

Rus was running out of pancakes to use as a buffer, time to speed this up. “i feel like an asshole for having to ask and i can guess what you’re say, but…um…are you okay?”

Stupid how that faint smile of Edge’s sent a little pulse through his soul, this bond thing could be really annoying. “I’m fine. And you wouldn’t be an asshole even if I weren’t, it wasn’t your fault.”

“it feels like my fault.” He’d been the one climbing on top, he’d been the one pinning Edge down. Willing or no, it’d still felt like Rus was taking too much, taking, forcing, driven by unrelenting heat and—

“Who are you going to trust, your feeling or me?”

Rus only laughed, a little uncomfortably. He dabbled a finger in the honey dregs, licked it clean. “i’m not usually much of a dick man, anyway. better to receive than give, in my opinion.”

“I don’t think I’m prepared to choose either way.” Edge mused thoughtfully as he set the tray with their empty plates on the floor. “I’d need more data.”

Oh. Well, now. That almost sounded like an invitation, now, dinnit?

Maybe if he…gingerly, Rus opened up the mental wall he had up around his soul juuust a little, a wide enough crack to peer out. He could feel Edge doing the same, so fucking weird, allowing the barest tickle of emotion that wasn’t his, but Rus was ready to match that emotion pretty damn quick.

Desire, as thick and sweet as that morning’s honey.

Rus swallowed hard, “uh, do you maybe…?”

“Yes, I want you,” Edge said bluntly. Just tossed it out there like a ball for Rus to fumble, except not really because Rus had a hold on it now, opening up his soul a wee bit more. Okay, so, if he could feel all the concerns and worries that Edge put out, stood to reason he’d feel want, he’d felt it a little last night. Wants and needs and desires and pleasure, and holy hell, this was gonna be interesting, wasn’t it.

“aww, sweet talker,” Rus cooed. He reached out and traced around the bite mark on Edge’s sternum teasingly, skirting dangerously close to the damaged bone. “you up for some experimenting?”

“Are you offering?”

“yeah, i am.” Enough dancing around, Rus was a little too tired yet to try for the tango. And why the fuck not. His cock was out of commission, but his cunt was all right, and as far as he knew, the only sex Edge ever had was his own heat and its aftermath, and then Rus’s. He could stand to be shown a good time. Hell, Edge was a better lay than most anyone else Rus went home with before, plus he came with morning after pancakes. Maybe this bond thing didn’t have to be so bad, especially if Edge was willing to let him show off a trick or two.

Rus leaned in, carefully telegraphing each move, and kissed him. Jaggedly sharp teeth parted, allowing his tongue inside and there was something about navigating around them, the almost-danger of it that pulled a groan out of Rus, fuck, yes, this was gonna be amazing it was—

An unguarded flash of emotion pulsed through Rus’s soul, a spark of unexpected warmth. Rus jerked back instinctively, flinching away from Edge, both hands curling over his chest as he asked shakily, “what the fuck!”

That emotion was stifled immediately, snuffed out and hastily hidden behind that mental brick wall again. “My apologies,” Edge said smoothly. He leaned in, trying to kiss Rus again but it was about ten steps past too late for that.

“no, no, holy shit, what the fuck!” That brief, shining flash, so brief, but Rus knew it for what it was. Too-warm and tender, settled insidiously against his own for only a moment, but he knew.

Love.

Rus scrambled out of the bed, nearly tripping over the tray on the floor, dishes rattling as he backed hastily away, his trembling hands held out as if to keep Edge back.

Edge didn’t try to stop him, he only sat there, looking bleak and…and…no, fuck no…

“no,” Rus choked out, “no, i can’t do that, this bond.” He clutched a fist over his sternum where his soul was aching to manifest “i can’t…please…i can’t deal with it making me feel things that aren’t real, i can’t.”

“It’s not the bond,” Edge whispered, barely audible. He looked way, down at his hands twisting in his lap. “I felt that way before I ever touched you.”

“don’t…” Rus blurted, low and thready. The sourness rising at the back of his throat overwhelming the lingering sweet. “don’t you fucking dare. i don’t believe you.”

“Why do you think my brother chose you?”

“He told me—“

”Oh, I’m sure he had a very good excuse. But heat can be more selective than you’d think.” Edge closed his sockets, exhaling long and slow, “My brother knew exactly how I felt about you and he knew that I never wanted this for you. You deserve a choice, a better choice, any other choice than this.”

“you don’t…you don’t feel that way about me…” Rus said shakily. “you can’t.” More denials trembled on his tongue, but how the fuck was he supposed to deny what he felt with his own soul.

He didn’t even think about shortcutting, only knew he needed to be gone.

The basement was cold, colder even then outside, untouched by the artificial light. Rus fumbled at the machine controls. He had to clear it and reset the coordinates for Underswap twice. Home, he had to get home, that was all, he had to get away from here and…

…and then what?

What was he gonna do? Go hide in Underswap again until heat struck one of them down?

Rus covered his face with trembling hands, inhaled the nauseating mixture the smell of tobacco and sweet honey that clung to his bones. Everything had changed and nothing had changed; the heat was still going to come and there was no place deep enough Rus could bury himself, no Monster he could pull between his legs to ride him to forgetfulness that was gonna stop it.

He didn’t know what to do anymore.

He stood in front of the shimmering blackness of portal, his soul knotted into a screaming tantrum of not fair and when had that ever changed a fucking thing? Terror and anger could fight it out for supremacy in his head, but he had some pretty visceral proof that he couldn’t run away from this one and that was the bitch of it. It was chained directly to his soul and there was no easy escape, not this time.

It was hard to force any kind of clarity into his warbling thoughts, but Rus did the best he could. Deep, calming breaths, his breath clouding in the cold of the basement. He was shivering by the time his panic loosened its hold, bones rattling in the stillness. Okay, obviously, his head and soul were twisted on backwards and upside down over this. What he needed was an outside opinion, someone who didn’t have a horse in this race to give him some damned advice.

Rus went through the portal and closed it behind him before heading upstairs, towards the best opinion he knew. He’d barely opened the door when a shout rang out, making him cringe.

“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!”

His brother all but flew off the sofa, furiously. Tears stood out in his sockets, shining against the starry blue of his eye lights. “I have been looking everywhere for you! The Monsters at Muffet’s said you were acting strangely and--” Whatever Blue saw on his face made him pause, his righteous anger fading. When Rus dropped to his knees and opened his arms Blue was there in an instant, holding him close. His small, sturdy body was comfort, it was home, and Rus greedily absorbed the feel of it.

All too soon, Blue pulled away. He didn’t go far, cupping Rus’s face in his gentle, gloved hands. “Papy? What is going on?”

That was his bro, always so kind and trying so hard to understand, to make things better. Blue wanted so terribly much to fix it, whatever it was, things and places and people and Rus.

“sit down, bro,” Rus sighed, nudging him towards the sofa, “and i’ll explain. but it’s a long story.”

“Then start telling it,” Blue settled in on the cushions, folding his hands in his lap expectantly. “and brother? I’m expecting a much longer tale than ‘Fuzzy Bunny’.”

Rus resisted the urge to say anything about it being a tale about getting tail and sat down next to him, sprawling into his brother��s lap. “okay. you remember a few weeks ago when i stayed out all night—"

~~*~~

tbc

[sanchowatersim]

Get to know me better tag

Rules: bold everything that applies to you and tag 10 people you’d like to get know better.

@simanin, thanks for your tag!!!!

Appearance:

I’m over 5’5” ( like 5'10 ″, you americans and other eng speakers, use stupid ft, but in my world we use cm ARGH!!!!) // I wear glasses/contacts // I have blonde hair (not now but in the past and mb in the future when my dye will over) // I prefer loose clothing to tight clothing // I have one or more piercings (if be more exact, i have five) // I have at least one tattoo // I have blue eyes // I have dyed or highlighted my hair (sweet fuchsia blue at the start and sky blue at the end) // I have gotten plastic surgery // I have or had braces // I sunburn easily (close to it, i guess) // I have freckles (only on the nose) // I paint my nails (sometimes when have a right mood) // I sometimes wear makeup (mb, a couple times a year) // I don’t often smile // I am pleased with how I look (of course, sometimes i catch that bad mood when u hate everything in u) // I prefer Nike to Adidas // I wear baseball hats backwards

Hobbies and Talents:

I play a sport // I can play an instrument (i finally get my ukulele so im trying ok?) // I am artistic (it’s like a part of my personality) // I know more than one language (rus and ukr r my native, and eng as u can see) // I have won a trophy in some sort of competition // I can cook or bake without a recipe (should i say that all of that recipes have first level of difficulty?)  // I know how to swim // I enjoy writing (for several years ive been trying to write a novel about my characters) // I can do origami // I prefer movies to TV shows // I can execute a perfect somersault // I enjoy singing // I could survive in the wild on my own // I have read a new book series this year // I enjoy spending time with friends // I travel during school or work breaks // I can do a handstand

Relationships:

I am in a relationship // I have been single for over a year // I have a crush // I have a best friend I have known for ten years // My parents are together // I have dated my best friend  // I am adopted // My crush has confessed to me // I have a long distance relationship // I am an only child // I give advice to my friends (it would be great if i also used these advices) // I have made an online friend // I met up with someone I have met online 

Aesthetics:

I have heard the ocean in a conch shell // I have watched the sunrise // I enjoy rainy days // I have slept under the stars // I meditate outside // The sound of chirping calms me // I enjoy the smell of the beach // I know what snow tastes like // I listen to music to fall asleep // I enjoy thunderstorms (it’s sound of beatuful dreams) // I enjoy cloud watching // I have attended a bonfire // I pay close attention to colours // I find mystery in the ocean // I enjoy hiking on nature paths // Autumn is my favourite season (like a winter and spring...i think its obvious that i dislike summer the most)

Miscellaneous:

I can fall asleep in a moving vehicle (its easy for me, but i like to look at the road or changing landscapes so i ussually trying to not fall asleep in a transport) // I am the mom friend (who drinks a lot, smokes a lot, uses a bad words a lot, and yeah, sometimes dont answers for her mom’s calls but by mistake! but im really the mom friend) // I live by a certain quote // I like the smell of sharpies // I am involved in extracurricular activities // I enjoy Mexican food // I can drive a stick-shift  // I believe in true love (usually its hard to belive) // I make up scenarios to fall asleep (and I have dozens of them) // I sing in the shower // I wish I lived in a video game (just for experience, surely not forever!) // I have a canopy above my bed // I am multiracial (i have ukrainian, russian and mb gypsy blood) // I am a redhead // I own at least three dogs

I tag everyone who hasn’t been tagged before! Yes I’m very kind...but really lazy, hehehe

~ Well, I’m back. I had a lot of different things, such as uni exams, my birthday and the work that i had to do before i got my legal free time for gaming, cc and friends, and other stuff I like more than my work and uni. Also I was trapped by the nasty mood when I feel myself so stupid, useless. More than usually. That sensation was too much for me. So I didn’t even try to do something that i like to do. The Sims and tmbrl also was suffered because of it. Now, bit by bit, I going to back to sims, to cc, to socializing here. Hope that I didn’t give you enough time to forget me.  So see you soon and stay tune!

[harrytheweedman]

Season 4 episode 1

I think that season 4 is one of the best and worst seasons of drag race. This season is the first season with a decent prize package so there’s that. But this season also welcomes the return of judge Michelle Visage, who on a panel with Santino is a blessing. It’s a rough season when Michelle is the judge you favor.

Willam is the first queen introduced into the workroom. Her outfit screams pedestrian but as we know, Willam is delusional and assumes its fierce. Willam isn’t my least favorite queen but I find her constant peacocking and delusion to be off putting. If she had the talent to back her words than it would be a different story.

Lashauwn Beyond is next and shes a fierce bitch. her looks are always captivating and fresh, but her confidence is what will be her downfall. 

Jiggly Caliente comes after and she is a mess. In a good way. Shes one of the funniest queens, but she is messy honey. Her entrance look isnt bad but its not anything to right home about either. It’s basic.

Phi Phi Ohara arrives next. Her entrance look isnt bad but it makes her look shorter than she already is. She’s one of the smallest queens and she picked a look that made her appear squat and its unflattering to her. From the beginning I liked Phi Phi, but as the season progressed I could tell that she was getting the villain edit and thats a shame. Phi Phi has some of the best looks and even today she’s a fierce bitch.

My least favorite queen of the season is next. Madame LaQueer has the worst looks, the worst attitude, the worst name, the worst everything, her entrance look is so boring and it only gets worse from there.

Milan comes after and her look is alright. I like when queens aren’t afraid to wear pants, but the I dont like animal print on anyone. Phi Phi says she looks like a pimp and thats pretty accurate.

Alisa Summers is next and I forget that she’s on this season every time I watch it. Her entrance look is all over the place. She claims to be fishy and I bet that she thinks she’d edgy, but really it’s just forgettable.

Dida Ritz comes next and I love her but Lashawn was right when she said her wig was dry. It looked so thirsty. If you know you're about to be on TV in the Olympics of drag, maybe you should brush your damn wig. Spoiler alert: her wigs are thirsty all season.

Next is the Princess. her entrance look is on of the best and one of my favorites. Shes one of the few queens this season that has concepts and actually seems to have some sort of idea of what she’s doing. I want to point out how beautiful her makeup was too.

Little Kenya Michaels is next. The only queen shorter than Phi Phi. Her entrance look is very pedestrian but she makes it work. She is so beautiful that she could probably wear anything. Her downfall is how clueless she is and how she appears to be a run trick pony. 

The legendary Chad Michaels is next. She was famous before drag race and rightfully so. Her Cher is phenomenal but I feel like that’s all she can do. Also out of drag her face scares me. I feel like she only has the face to be Cher. Anything else is scary.

Sharon Needles, the bitch who changed the game and is the only reason to watch this season, finally come into the workroom. Sharon is spooky in all the right ways. She is fierce but also campy. Her entrance look is super cute and simple but it works.

Latrice Royale is last. Her look is extremely ugly. The colors are awful and the dress just isn’t flattering. She looks like some kind of gay baked potato.

After we are introduced to the queens, there is a lame little bit with Shangela and boxes. Overplayed. I love it 

Now it’s time for a super lame photo shoot. Like super lame. For the mini challenge the queens have to stand on a spinning table and have paint sprayed on them while getting their pictures taken. We’re just gonna move past that.

Moving on and skipping forward, its time for the maxi challenge. Ru takes the girls to what is essentially a back alley and has them chase after “zombies” that are really just queens from past seasons done up. It’s always nice to see some familiar faces. Once the queens take their shit from the zombies, which is random pieces of clothes and basically shit, we head back to the workroom for the design challenge. 

I love and hate design challenges. I love them because there are some really talented queens that can sew, but I hate it because there are always queens that don’t know how to see. It’s always unbelievable to me how many queens are surprised that they have to sew. Watch the damn show. Do your homework before you compete on a televised show. It should not be a surprise to any queen. 

After watching the queens struggle to come up with something decent for the Apocalypse, it’s time for the runway. So I dont have to waste my time, we’re only going to talk about the queens who aren’t safe on the runway. If you’re safe then you are garbage. That means that you did not make an impression and are therefore not worth my time. 

The runway song is Glamazon, which is a true bop. Def one of Ru’s better songs because I mean it when i say that this song slaps. 

First up on for judging is LaShauwn Beyond. Santino comes up with some bullshit meaning behind her look but we all now that she was just stacking garbage on top of garbage. I liked it but the judges did not like her lack of confidence and I can see how that’s a turn off. I didn’t get apocalypse from her look but overall is wasnt terrible.

Next is up is Sharon Needles. I will usually refer to her as Noodles. Noodles hands down has the best look on the runway. She’s the only one who understood the challenge and actually had a Apocalypse look. The judges loved her and it made sense that she won the challenge. This look is fierce. Noodle really came to play straight off the rip. 

Jiggly is next and her looks is garbage. it literally looked like she was blindfolded just gluing shit on her mannequin. There is no concept and what seems like no thought or effort put into this look at all. She’s wearing sneakers and I was so surprised that nobody read her for that. I guess her horrendous outfit took the heat away from her lazy foot attire. Jiggly promised the judges that there is more and she can do better. Ru said that they’d heard it before and was skeptical. Rightfully so. I would love to say that Jiggly steps her puss up after this, but she doesn't and she doesn't keep her promise. Oh well. At least she ended up in the bottom two.

Kenya Michaels is next. her outfit makes absolutely no sense at all. Shes a fire bird because she thinks of fire when she thinks end of the world, Bitch what. Shes clueless, but shes cute so the judges loved her. If she wasn’t so fierce she would have been in the bottom for her sparkly diaper alone, but on drag race personalty can really save you.

Alisa Summers is next. I didn’t hate her outfit as much as everyone else did. The judges really laid into her and it didn’t seem fair when she at least looked like she tried while some of the other looks were way worse. Michelle is the only one who stuck up for her and I agreed with her. There are no rules in fashion. Santino is a fucking dick and I hate him. He has no business being a judge on this show. I will say that her makeup is a little heavy, but she’s a drag queen sp who cares. Was it the best? Hell no. Was is the worst? Absolutely not, but she ended up in the bottom anyway.

Last to the slaughter is the Princess. I love stripes and anything nautical so I’m already a big fan. I liked that she has a concept and I liked that it was completely different from what everyone else did. The Princess has such a good stage presence and I feel like she did really well and killed the runway. She’s really under appreciated on this season.

After the critiques the queens go untuck and the judges talk about the queens behind their back. They save the good shit for when the queens are not around. Then the queens come back and we learn that Jiggly and Alisa Summers have to lip sync for their lives to the tune of Toxic by Britney Spears. Gasp.

There is no doubt that Jiggly absolutely stomped Alisa. I that wearing sneakers makes dancing a little easier. Alisa, the poor soul, really thinks that she was killing it but Jiggly pissed all over that stage and made it hers. Alisa just couldn’t match Jiggly’s energy and unfortunately had to sashay away.

Not bad for a first episode. Tune in next week when the drag queens try their luck at wrestling. 

[overwatchworks]

Only So Much:

Jack Daniel’s brought back some memories Genji generally tried to repress. Jesse was the first thing that came to mind, but then there was the...Incident. He could only half remember what happened. It had been nice, something he had entertained in his head before, but he blew it off, for the most part. 

Thought of it as just another person to add to the list.

Because thinking of it that way was easier than messing things up more between him and Jesse, at least. Easier than putting names on the emotions that followed the memories.

Jesse sighed as Genji leaned into him heavily, his full body weight making Jesse lose his grip on the key and go stumbling to the side a bit.

“Woooooah! Sorry, Jess! I thought you were standing a lil’ more to the...Uh...The...That way.” Genji slurred with a smile, pointing a finger and wiggling it slightly as Jesse straightened.

“Ya-huh. Scoot over and lemme get the door open, will you?” Jesse griped, shoving Genji away gently and going back to the door. 

Drunk Genji was no fun, and he’d been stuck with him more often than not. They only really ever saw each other anymore on nights like these, when Jesse was free from work and school for just a bit and Genji wanted to go clubbing because someone was pissing him off. That someone tonight was Hanzo, as Genji had so drunkenly lamented about for thirty minutes. 

He had started turning down some of Genji’s offers to go out during the day--on top of his job and school and homework--and eventually Genji just stopped asking because Jesse was never free. So he would show up during the ungodly hours of the morning during the weekend, and now weekdays, make some racket, then go to sleep next to Jesse, who was always off to school before Genji woke up. 

Jesse missed his friend, but he also didn’t really have any time to sit and think about missing him. 

Now, Genji was just being an annoyance, trying to get Jesse’s attention as he finally got the door open and stumbling a bit since he had been leaning against it.

“Hey! Ru~de, I was using that door!” Genji whined, Jesse rolling his eyes as he grabbed his hand and dragged him inside.

“Come on, you need a cold shower. Ad’ I don’t want you throwin’ up on my stuff.”

“Tch, what’s there to throw up? I haven’t eaten aaaaaaall day! M’ stomach’s been hurting...” Genji grumbled, and Jesse glanced at him.

“When did you last eat?”

“Dunno? I can’t even remember what happened an hour ago.”

“Okay, well, you shower and I’ll make you some rice or somethin’, alright?” Jesse told him in a gentler tone, worry getting the better of him. 

Genji chewed on his bottom lip for a moment, turning it bright, cherry red, then he bobbed his head.

“Mkay.”

“Alright. Go on, now. I’ll have somethin’ whipped up by the time you’re through.” Jesse said with a little wink, making Genji giggle softly. 

He watched his friend sway slightly on his way to the bathroom, then shook his head fondly. He didn’t care if Genji was annoying when he was drunk, because he was also kind of cute, so long as he wasn’t shitfaced. And he wasn’t currently shitfaced. 

Jesse sighed and leaned against the counter for a moment, rubbing his eyes. He was exhausted, but he wasn’t about to let Genji go to sleep without some food in his belly. He made something light, since Genji said his stomach was hurting and he probably wouldn’t be able to handle anything else with how drunk he was. 

Jesse didn’t hear when the shower turned off, so he checked the bathroom when he was through cooking some rice in some chicken stock. It was empty, so Jesse checked the bedroom. Genji was curled up in a little ball under the covers, back facing the door. The cowboy walked over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder and shaking him a bit.

“Hey...Gen, I want you to come eat somethin’ real quick, mkay? Then you can rest.” He whispered, Genji’s face scrunching up before he tucked his chin under the covers.

“Please, hon? You’ve got me worried.”

“No...”

“Gen, Come on. If you don’t get up, I’ll haul you out of bed and make you eat.”

“I don’t wanna. M’ stomach hurts. Just lemme sleep, I’ll eat in th’ morning...” Genji mumbled, Jesse pursing his lips.

“You promise you will?”

“Mhm...”

“Okay...I’ll set out some medicine too. Sleep well.”

Genji grunted in response, and Jesse tucked him in before going to wrap up the food for later. He came back to the bedroom when he was through cleaning up and getting ready for bed, checking on Genji before lying down behind him and passing out.

-

Jesse woke to a loud noise from the bathroom--something falling off the counter?--and a long string of curses. He frowned, yawning and rubbing his eyes before sitting up reluctantly. It couldn’t be that early since he could see the sun through the curtain over his window, but it still made Jesse grimace. 

Genji must have been up to something, and Jesse slid out of bed to check on him. He wandered over to the bathroom door, knocking on it lightly and calling through it.

“Gen...? You alright in there, bud?”

“Fuck—Yeah! Yeah just gimme a fucking minute and I’ll be outta here!” Came the nippy response, Jesse raising his brows with a sigh as the pieces fell together in his head.

“Okay, I’ll have some medicine for you. Need some for headache and cramps?”

“Yeah.”

Jesse nodded to himself, then wandered into the kitchen to get what he had offered and some water. Genji should have had plenty of supplies in the bathroom for his period too. Jesse made sure it was stocked to his liking for such occasions, because it wasn’t the first time this had happened. 

Genji came stalking out of the bathroom with a scowl on his face, arms crossed over his chest and hunched over slightly, obviously in pain. But he was wearing Jesse’s flannel, and that made his heart throb. Genji looked really nice in his flannel. 

Jesse glanced at the medicine wordlessly, Genji immediately snatching up the pills and gulping them down with vehemence.

“Can you eat a lil’ something with that? I made some rice for you last night, I’ll heat it up if you want.” Jesse offered, Genji sighing and shaking his head.

“Cramps are too bad...I’ll eat something later.” He grumbled, leaning heavily on the counter. Jesse grimaced slightly, then leaned next to Genji to look him in the eye.

“Will you stay until the medicine kicks in, and I’ll make something when you’re feeling better?”

“Why the hell are you so obssessed with me eating?” Genji hissed, Jesse blinking and pursing his lips.

“Because you haven’t had any food lately and I don’t want you to make yourself sick.”

“Why don’t you mind your own business and let me do what I want, huh? I don’t need your help.” Genji spat. Jesse backed off with a quiet sigh, brushing off the harsh tone and words, knowing his friend was just a hormonal mess at the moment.

“So, what’d you hit?” Jesse asked after a long moment of tense silence, wondering what he’d need to wash, if anything at all. And he wanted a reason to get away from Genji’s seething. 

Genji gave him a glare, that all too familiar haughty air coming about him as he straightened and opened his mouth.

“Oh, I’m so sorry my shitty body’s functions are such a problem! You can throw away my fucking clothes in the shower and I’ll pay for the goddamn sheets, so please, don’t worry about it.” He sneered, Jesse raising his hands placidly and giving a glare back.

“Okay, I’m sorry if that somehow came off wrong, but I was just trying to see what I needed to wash, alright? I wasn’t attacking you or nothin’, I don’t mind, okay? It’s not a big deal.” Jesse told Genji slowly, voice clipped slightly in anger. 

He was getting sick of Genji’s attitude with him lately, sick of putting up with his shit, even if this time it wasn’t quite his fault. But that wasn’t the case for all the other times. Genji just rolled his eyes and scoffed, turning on his heel and going back into the bedroom with a palpable amount of irritation. 

Why he was annoyed was completely beyond Jesse, but he let him go with a huff of his own. Genji could be pissy if he wanted, Jesse wasn’t about to care anymore. He already cared too much when Genji was tolerable, why should he waste his time if he wasn’t? And Jesse was angry now, so that was another layer to the cake. 

He would let himself cool off, and Genji could do the same if he wanted, or he could leave. Which it looked like he was about to do, Genji storming out of the bedroom again with his phone in hand and a dark look on his face. 

He shot Jesse one last glare, not bothering with saying anything else as he went to the door and made sure to slam it shut behind him. Jesse tugged his fingers through his hair with a muffled shout of anger. 

What was going on between him and Genji anymore, he didn’t know. And he was so tired of dealing with it. The only problem was, he still had more than just a soft spot for Genji, and he could not for the life of him convince himself he needed to toughen up.

~*~*~

Genji sniffled and rubbed his nose, blinking back the tears that were threatening to fall. He was angry and in pain and hungry and upset. He didn’t like the way he had handled Jesse’s offers for help, he hated waking up in a pool of blood and cramps chewing at his already aching stomach, and he was still pissed at Hanzo, so he wasn’t going back home. 

He felt horrible and disgusting; no makeup, clothes from last night, and to top it all off, Jesse had been right about making himself sick. It was going to be a bad day. 

Genji kept a scowl on his face as he made his way to the arcade, already texting his friends and telling them he’d be there and wanted some company that wouldn’t get irritated with him at the smallest things. He was so moody and he hated everything at the moment, so he let himself simmer in it, remembering Hanzo’s words from the night before and Jesse’s tone not five minutes ago to fuel it. 

It was working better than Genji expected, and by the time he walked into the arcade, he was pretty furious. He wanted to hit something, but his body was feeling weak, hands getting shaky from lack of food. It had been at least two days since he’d had anything but alcohol, and he was about to make it a third. 

Genji didn’t expect to see some of his friends already at the arcade so early, but it was a welcome improvement to his mood. Chizaru was there with Hanako and her boyfriend, Jin. Genji didn’t bother trying for a smile as Chizaru hopped over and snuggled into his side. 

He had made a mistake fucking her and making her think she was special when it was more of a spite and jealousy move he had tried for Jesse. Jesse with his stupid smile and unwanted kindness, starting to ignore him when he’d done nothing wrong. 

Genji didn’t know what he’d done to make Jesse so distant lately, but now that he’d lost that attention, he realized just how much of it Jesse had given him before. It was just a mess that he didn’t want to try and figure out at the moment, so he kissed Chizaru and wandered over to a game he’d been working on a higher score for. 

He just wanted to feel loved for a little bit. 

Genji sat down in front of the game, pulling out some coins to feed the machine and started playing. Chizaru sat behind him and kept a hand on his lower back, and Genji saw Hanako and Jin come over from the corner of his eye.

“We’re going to the club later. Tell your friends, I’ll pay.” Genji gruffed to them, easily working his way past the first few levels he had memorized.

“Woah, really? This early?” Jin asked, Chizaru already pulling out her phone with a giggle.

“You know I love you so much, Genji? You’re like, the best ever.”

“Yeah, I know. We go as soon as the place opens.” Genji told them, finally putting all his focus on the game as his friends cheered. 

The longer he played, the more people showed up, and Genji had his full gaggle and then some by the time mid-afternoon rolled around. They were mulling around and playing games, though most watched Genji. He wasn’t on his A-game though, his hands shaking too much to get the scores he usually did. 

And his friends all made sure to point it out. It was pissing him off, making him angrier than it should have, so he stood and brushed himself off.

“Okay, I’m ready for some drinks. Who’s coming with?” He called, all his friends suddenly snapping to attention and gathering around. 

Genji found himself unintentionally searching for a certain cowboy, but he shook his head and left the arcade when he reminded himself he wasn’t there. Jesse wasn’t around for him anymore, Jesse didn’t care, Jesse didn’t like him. 

The ninja wrapped his arms around his middle and glared at the ground as he walked towards the club. Chizaru quickly caught up to him and threw an arm around his waist, Genji blinking and sighing.

“Gen, what’s up? You’ve been a bitch today.” She told him, her glossy lips scrunched up into a pout as Genji scowled at her.

“Well, you would know, wouldn’t you? Can’t you people just leave me alone? So I’m not feeling great today, that doesn’t mean everyone has to fucking point it out all the time.” Genji gritted out. 

He hated that everyone he was hanging around was pointing out his flaws all the time. It was bad enough that they were all he saw when he looked in the mirror, but when everyone else could see what he desperately tried to hide under the makeup and confident demeanor? It sucked. It really sucked, and it made him feel even shittier than he already did.

“Wow, okay Mr. Pissy. If you want people to leave you alone, then why the hell did you invite us all to drinks?” Chizaru shot back, crossing her arms over her chest and huffing.

“You can still be around me and not pry, genius. I want company, not a fucking interrogation.” Genji snapped, Chizaru laughing at his tone and shaking her head. It really didn’t help Genji’s mood.

“Okay, okay. Since you’re paying, I’ll do what you say.”

Genji ignored Chizaru after that, trudging up to the door of the club and walking right in. The bouncers all knew him well enough to know not to stop him or his friends. Genji sat down at his usual table, breathing a bit heavier than normal and clenching his shaking hands. He felt really weak and exhausted, but it couldn’t have been more than three in the afternoon. 

A waiter immediately came over, and Genji waved his hand when his friends looked to him, expecting his order to come first.

“You guys get whatever. Just gimme...Gimme some Jack Daniel’s.” Genji muttered after a moment of thought, and he looked down at his hands as his friends ordered their drinks. 

Jack Daniel’s brought back some memories Genji generally tried to repress. Jesse was the first thing that came to mind, but then there was the...Incident. He could only half remember what happened. It had been nice, something he had entertained in his head before, but he blew it off, for the most part.

Thought of it as just another person to add to the list.

Because thinking of it that way was easier than messing things up more between him and Jesse, at least. Easier than putting names on the emotions that followed the memories. Genji sighed and rested his head on his arms, closing his eyes and trying to repress the oncoming throb of a headache.

“So, Genji.”

Genji internally groaned and glanced up, seeing Jin sitting next to him, leaning his chin on his hand.

“What?”

“You wanna come to my place after some drinks here?” Jin asked, raising a brow and licking his lips, not so subtle in his roaming gaze.

“Don’t you already have a girlfriend?” Genji sighed, rubbing his forehead. His stomach was really starting to bother him now that the medicine was wearing off. He felt horrible, sick. 

Their drinks came over before Jin could answer, and Genji downed a shot of his as quick as he could. The burn was nice, the taste reminding him of Jesse. Genji’s attention snapped back to Jin when he felt a hand go up his thigh, fingertips brushing too high for his comfort.

“Yeah, but she doesn’t care. Besides, it’s not like you haven’t fucked her before anyways.”

Genji glared at Jin, scooting away and shoving his hand off.

“Okay, fucking rude. Sorry, but I’m not interested in helping you cheat on your girlfriend.” He growled, pouring himself another shot of whiskey and downing it. His hands were really shaky now, and it was hard to keep a grip on the glass.

“Aww, come on. A little slut like you probably gets people to cheat all the time, even without all your pretty makeup. What’s one more?” Jin sneered, Genji balking and laughing, a short and bitter sound, uncomfortable.

“How about you take a fucking hint, dumbass. No means no, now back the fuck down.”

“Hey, I’m just offering some free cock. I hear whores love it. Hanako sure does.” Jin laughed. Genji didn’t think he could get angrier, but this guy sure was testing his limits.

“No. Now get out of my fucking seat, asshole.” Genji hissed, shoving weakly at Jin’s shoulder. That made Jin’s face twist in anger, and he shoved a finger into Genji’s chest with a growl.

“You know what, you’re just a fucking slut, you know that? You’re a stupid rich fuckboy that can’t get enough attention at home, so you have to waste your time getting fucked and wasted because no one actually cares about you. Hope you had fun wasting my time, because I’m out. Come on, Hanako, he’s just being a dick today.”  

Genji’s shot glass shattered in his hand, glass shards drawing blood from his palm as he clenched it even tighter, but he didn’t feel it. A strange burning sensation was going up his spine and tears prickled on the edge of his vision, from anger or hurt he couldn’t tell.

He wanted to throw up, wanted to scream, wanted to kill the son of a bitch glaring at him with a sick gleam in his eye.

“Jin, back off man, you’re making him angry. You don’t wanna deal with him when he’s angry.” Naoki slurred, already drunk with a dumb smile plastered over his face. 

Genji looked around disbelievingly at all his friends, none of them trying to stand up for him. They were laughing, actually. Grinning and not even paying attention to the conversation, and those that were had been egging it on. 

He stood abruptly, shoving Jin back and not even watching him fall off the seat as he ran out of the club as fast as he could. As soon as the doors shut behind him, Genji burst into tears, wiping at his cheeks and cradling his now throbbing hand to his chest. 

Nobody really cared about him or his feelings, he was just a night of fun or free drinks to them, and they all saw right through him. 

Genji felt like he was going to pass out, choking on sobs as he went to the only place he could think of for help and comfort. He stood at Jesse’s doorstep, sniffling and whimpering, raising his good hand and knocking. Leaning against the door frame helped the wobbling in his knees, and he knocked again when no one answered. 

Tears were dripping off his nose and splattering onto the cobblestones under his feet, Genji’s mind feeling hazy with hurt. Everything hurt so, so much. 

He heard the lock click after another moment, and Jesse opened the door, face not changing as he looked at Genji.

“Yeah, come on in...” He sighed, Genji sniffing and leaning forward a bit, hoping for a hug, a touch, anything. 

He almost stumbled as Jesse turned and went back inside, Genji’s insides feeling like they were shattering. He shuffled in after Jesse unsteadily, hand shooting out to the wall when he swayed.

“What happened this time? Someone else get on your nerves?” Jesse asked, a biting note to his voice. A fresh wave of tears spilled down Genji’s cheeks as he watched Jesse’s back. 

He was still mad, and rightly so, but it only cut the fresh wounds in his heart even wider.

“N-no...Just—Just...” Genji didn’t even try to form the rest of the sentence, knowing Jesse probably didn’t care anyways.

“You drunk?”

“No...”

“Why’s your hand bleedin’?”

Genji stared down at his hand, a red stain now on what he realized was Jesse’s flannel from where it was soaking his blood up.

“I smashed a g-glass.” Genji stuttered out, sitting down on the couch when he realized his legs were about to give out. The room was starting to spin. That couldn’t have been good. 

Jesse came over with some medicine and a glass of water, set them down in front of Genji, then immediately went to the bathroom. Genji watched him until he was out of sight, then made a grab for the water. He missed the first time, but got it the second. 

Jesse came back with a med kit, towel, and a bowl of water by the time Genji had swallowed the pills, and he crouched down in front of him. Genji was handed a tissue, and he took it gratefully, wiping down his face and blowing his nose. He was probably beyond ugly at this point. 

Genji flinched when Jesse took his hurt hand in a gentle grip, dabbing at it with the towel after he’d dampened it. He then put some gauze over the wounds and held onto his hand to keep them there for a moment, though the touch felt more tender than it should have.

“This is gonna hurt a bit. Next time, don’t go breakin’ glasses, leastwise not while you’re still holding them, yeah?” Jesse told him, his tone a little more lighthearted and caring now. 

Genji nodded absently, staring at Jesse’s face as he cleaned his hand and grabbed some tweezers from the med kit. His brows were knitted slightly as he focused, head tilted just a bit, a stray strand of hair falling from the little ponytail it was pulled back in. 

Genji blinked and hissed quietly when Jesse pulled the first piece of glass from his palm, dropping it into the bowl of water with a soft clinking sound. He did that over and over again, Genji not feeling it by the third clink and going back to staring at Jesse. 

He felt really odd, lightheaded, and his vision was starting to go black around the edges. Warm, honey-brown eyes met his, Jesse’s brows furrowing a bit before Genji felt a hand on his cheek.

“You alright there, bud?”

Genji blinked again, shaking his head slightly as he tried to focus on Jesse. It was hard.

“Nnmhm?”

Jesse’s hand moved to his forehead, his frown deepening as he did so.

“You’ve got a fever...Here, I fixed up your hand, now lay down a mo—Woah...” Jesse trailed off as Genji swayed forward, eyes unfocusing.

“Gen...? Hey, I’m going to call Hanzo, okay? Have him get you to a doctor. Lay down until he gets here, okay? I’ll get a blanket.”

Genji nodded half heartedly, letting Jesse’s hands guide him back onto the couch. Everything went black and stayed black the moment he closed his eyes.

~*~*~

Jesse hesitantly left Genji’s side after laying him down on the couch. He must have passed out, and that really worried him. Seeing Genji waiting at his door with tears dripping down his cheeks had pained Jesse more than he let on, and he couldn’t turn him away, not like that. 

Grabbing his phone and going to the bedroom for a blanket, Jesse called Hanzo and hoped he wasn’t in a meeting or something. It was answered on the second ring, Hanzo’s voice sounding surprised when he spoke.

“Jesse. Is everything alright?”

“Heya, Han. I’m sorry to bother you, but uh...I think Gen’s real sick. He’s at my place, came back crying and his hand was bleeding. I dunno what happened, but he’s hurt. I don’t think he’s eaten anything for a while, and he passed out.” Jesse told him quickly as he went back into the living room, covering Genji with the blanket.

Hanzo was quiet for a moment, though Jesse heard rustling from across the line, movement, probably.

“I’ll be there in a few minutes. Thank you for calling me, Jesse.” Hanzo finally told him curtly, hanging up before Jesse could reply. Typical Hanzo, but Jesse knew how worried he must have been. 

He sighed and set his phone on the coffee table, going to clean up the mess on it while he waited for Hanzo to show up. When he was through, Jesse came back and pressed his hand to Genji’s forehead once again, then he let it slide down to his friend’s cheek. 

Jesse’s thoughts turned into words, bubbling out of his mouth before he could stop them.

“You know, I should tell you this when you’re awake but...What can I say? I’m sick of rejection. But I really do love you. It hurts, feeling this way, but I do. I hope you get better soon, ‘cause I miss having you here. You need to take better care of yourself.” Jesse murmured, letting out a soft sigh through his nose and pressing a kiss to Genji’s forehead. 

He stood slowly, stretching as he did so, then waited for Hanzo’s knock. It came quicker than Jesse expected, and he opened his door to the older Shimada’s concerned face.

“Where is he?”

“Still out on the couch. Need me to help you get him home?” Jesse asked, but Hanzo shook his head.

“No, but thank you for offering. And thank you for helping him.” Hanzo told him briskly, walking inside and going to Genji. He shook his brother’s shoulder gently, kneeling down next to the couch.

“Hey...Gen, come on. I’ll get you home, have the physician check you, okay? Come on.” Hanzo called softly, Genji’s eyes fluttering open at his touch.

“Nnh...Anija?”

“Mhm. Come on. Can you stand?”

“I don’t think so...”

Jesse pursed his lips and watched as Hanzo wrapped an arm behind Genji’s shoulders and hauled him up slowly, carefully.

“I feel like I’m gonna throw up...” Genji mumbled, his head hanging and lolling a bit.

“Not on me please. I’ll text you when we get home, Jess. Thanks again.” Hanzo directed the last of his sentence to Jesse, and he nodded a bit.

“Mkay. See ya.” Jesse murmured in response, closing the door after them as they left. 

He sighed and went back to the couch, sitting down on it heavily. Jesse was still angry with Genji, but it was fading. He was more worried now. He didn’t really know how to feel about his friend anymore.

~~

[sweetlangdon]

From Eden: Chapter 5

Notes: Michael Langdon x Reader/OC. Evil Power Couple fic. It’s difficult to write a summary for this one, because I don’t want to give away the twists. (It’ll also include canon rewrite/divergence for the later half of the season.) It has plenty of angst and fluff, and a bit of character study.

Warnings: Swearing, blood, murder, graphic violence, mentions of physical abuse. 

Chapter One     Chapter Two    Chapter Three     Chapter Four     Also Available on AO3

Her shoulder knocked into Michael’s as they walked, their laughter piercing the quiet of the neighborhood. Crickets thrummed in the grass and somewhere a few streets over a dog barked incessantly. She tried to tell him to keep his voice down when they approached her house, but it was no use—the two of them were caught in a cycle of infectious giggling. It was late and they were tired; so tired that everything became hilarious no matter how little it made sense. She would’ve crashed in the guest bedroom at Miriam’s if it wasn’t a school night. She’d spent the evening in their warm kitchen, the aroma of baking cookies lingering in the air long after she and Michael had finished devouring them. They played cards at the kitchen table for hours, gambling with chocolate chips and stealing the piping hot cookies off the cooling racks when Miriam wasn’t looking. Miriam warned Michael not to cheat while she gathered the necessary ingredients for a ritual that she hoped would cause a nasty septic leak in her aunt’s yard tomorrow night. Miriam had asked her if she wanted to participate and she was practically bouncing at the idea of savoring her aunt’s misery once her garden flooded.

She won a handful of times, but she knew Michael cheated or at least had some sort of preternatural insight that she didn’t possess that gave him an advantage. She wondered if he’d let her win. Michael’s poker face was impossible to break unless she gave him a jab in the shin underneath the table, and then he got downright smug.

The laughter died on her lips. “Oh, shit.”

“What?” Michael’s smile faltered.

“They weren’t supposed to be home.” The porch light illuminated the driveway and the glossy windows of her parents’ car. The front door was open. They’d been waiting up for her. “You should probably go before they see you.”

Michael tensed beside her, then shook his head. He stared at her like it was ridiculous that she’d even considered it.

“No, I’m not going anywhere.”

“Do you have any idea what time it is?”

Their heads turned at once toward the porch from where they’d stopped at the end of the driveway. Her mother barged through the front door with her father trailing behind, both of them playing the part of concerned parents. She thought that maybe they were almost convincing. She wanted to laugh, but her mother’s tone was shrill and hostile and years of shouting matches through thin walls had programmed an automatic anxious response.

“Late,” she answered, stomping up the driveway, trying to stifle the panic that flared at the sound of her mother’s raised voice. Michael followed at her side, the rage inside him beginning to trigger the power he carried. It swept over her skin like fire. “Since when do you care? You’re never home.”

“Your aunt said you never showed up at her house.” Her father planted a hand on his hip as if this happened to be some kind of monumental error on her part, and a reason for them to finally acknowledge that they had a responsibility for her existence.

“I was with Michael,” she answered. “Thought you’d be happy about me making friends—again, not like a single one of you gives a shit.”

“She said this is becoming a habit of yours,” her father continued, conveniently ignoring his sister’s own blatant disinterest. “She’s been worried.”

“Right,” she scoffed. “About losing the bribe money for babysitting me? I could always save you the trouble and just…disappear. Bet you’d love that.”

Michael’s hand clenched into a tight fist—she saw it out of the corner of her eye, felt him quaking with anger next to her as his face hardened and the darkness seeped into his gaze. The rage inside him amplified just before she noticed her father’s grimace. He pressed his fingers to the space between his eyebrows to quell the pain that she imagined had stabbed at him like an ice pick. Blood oozed from his nose and landed on the porch steps, looking almost black away from the light’s reach.

“Enough,” her mother warned. “Inside the house. Now.”

She wrapped her hand over Michael’s wrist, never breaking eye contact with her mother. Her father had already ducked inside, his hands cupped against his bloody nose. “I can handle it from here,” she whispered to him. Michael loosened his hold, and she let go. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

Michael’s fingers brushed against hers. “Be careful,” he murmured. His breath ghosted along the shell of her ear. “Don’t ever let them make you feel powerless.”  

She shivered when a cool draft replaced the heat of his body and watched his silhouette disappear into the shadows of their tree-lined street. Once the front door slammed shut behind her, she followed the path to the kitchen marked by droplets of crimson on the hardwood floors. Her father was huddled over the sink, a dish towel pressed to his face, her mother hovering next to him.

“I can’t believe you.” Her mother lifted the hand that had been rubbing circles across her father’s back to point an accusing finger. “Doing that out in the open where someone could see you, hurting your father like this. Unacceptable.”

She accepted the blame only because she didn’t want to give them another reason to keep her away from Michael.

“It’s two in the morning,” she reasoned. “If someone around here noticed anything, it was you screaming at me from the porch.”

Her mother’s jaw dropped. Really, she didn’t know where she’d found that scrap of bravery, but it felt like she’d finally hit her breaking point.

“What makes you think you can speak to me like that?”

She scoffed. “I don’t know, why are you so interested in how I occupy my time?” She was seething, and she could feel it spread through her veins like a wildfire. It was a lot more than just simple anger; it had power behind it. “Why the fuck do you want to be my mother all of a sudden?” You gave up on me a long time ago.

Her father wanted to intervene, she could tell, but the dish towel was working overtime to staunch the flow of blood. She had no idea what Michael had done to him, but the result had yet to wear off. Her mother swallowed hard. She’d been caught, and she knew it. There wasn’t any reason to pretend now, no reason to explain away the fact that she’d always come last in the list of her parents’ priorities. That for most of her life, her mother had been afraid of her.

“I don’t like you hanging around that boy,” she continued. “It’s making your affliction worse, I can see it.”

That was her mother’s name for it—an affliction, a curse, for which there’d been no cure. And for a while she’d believed her mother. For years she thought something had been wrong, broken inside of her. That she needed to run from it, bury it and leave it alone.

Not anymore.

Her knuckles went white, her hand shaking as she finally released the anger welling up. Her mother let out a yelp when she slammed into the cabinets, the dishes inside rattling from the impact. She fell to the floor and scrambled until she backed up against the lower cabinets, trying to put as much distance between them as possible.

“Go,” her mother choked out. Her airway was beginning to constrict, the oxygen forced from her lungs at her own command. “Get out of my sight.”

Her mother clutched at her neck, wheezing, trying to suck in a breath. Veins protruded from her temples with the effort, her face going red, then almost pale.

The whisper she’d heard for so long in the static became a scream, that voice calling to her in a language she couldn’t possibly understand. And yet she did. The power that coursed through her seemed different this time; more immense and much more potent. She saw flashes of fire and the darkness seeping down the walls like black paint blossoming in a pool of clear water. The heady scent of charred wood and brimstone engulfed her senses, connecting her to something far greater than herself.

And then something—someone?—knocked her off course, breaking the link. She returned to herself sprawled out on the kitchen floor on her side, and it felt like she’d just woken up from a dream, taken a breath for the first time. A high-pitched droning sound filled her ears, and somewhere there was a distant echo of her father yelling, her mother sobbing hysterically. She blinked until the room came back into focus. In a daze, she crawled off the kitchen floor and swayed on her feet, her hands braced on walls and furniture as she navigated the way to her bedroom.

Her whole body shuddered, the adrenaline and anxiety still alive in her system.She felt like she couldn’t take a deep breath, couldn’t think, couldn’t remember what had happened outside of herself before the fire took over. Her limbs were heavy and her chest hurt. She collapsed into her mattress, listening to the tones of her parents’ raised voices through the walls until she cried herself to sleep.

***

She fled her aunt’s house in the middle of a downpour.

Water that had already pooled on the uneven sidewalks sloshed up her jeans as she dashed through them, soaking the denim. Pressure mounted behind her eyes and burned down the back of her throat from the tears she tried frantically to subdue. She was too busy running to be distracted by it. The sky hung low, the clouds a muddy gray against the encroaching night. The storm didn’t relent just because she was trying to escape, trying to get a handle on her frayed nerves. She was drenched from head to toe by the time she slipped into Miriam’s backyard, the rain a gusty torrent of freezing water that plastered her clothes to her skin.

She leaned against the closed door once she rushed inside, water collecting on the hardwood floor at her feet as it dripped from her clothes and sodden hair. The tears came then—loud, heaving sobs that left her almost bent double from the weight of them. She reached a shaky hand up to her throbbing head and wept harder when her fingers came away bloody.

“Oh, sweetheart.” Miriam took her bruised, bloodied face between her hands. She hadn’t even heard Miriam come into the kitchen, but she nearly collapsed into her kind touch. “What happened? Poor thing, you’re soaked to the bone. Here, sit down…come sit over here…easy, now, that’s it. It’s all right. You’re safe.”

Miriam eased her into one of the chairs at the table while she tried to catch her breath. She tasted iron on her tongue, her bottom lip split open again from the effort of crying. She could smell it all around her, too—her nose had bled, she was sure of it, but most of the scarlet trickling down her face was from the cut along her hairline.

“That awful woman,” Miriam grumbled. “I’m gonna get you cleaned up, don’t you worry.”

“What did she do to you?”

Michael’s voice was pure steel from somewhere behind Miriam, but through the anger that flashed like a storm across his face, she noticed the deep concern. He was at her side a moment later, taking her chin in between his thumb and forefinger with the lightest of touches. The blue of his eyes glistened with fresh tears, but he didn’t let them fall. His thumb traced along the curve of her jaw, careful of the bruise that had started to blossom there.

“We got into an argument…about my mom.” Michael’s hand wandered into her hair and he raked his fingers through the tousled, drenched strands. She sniffled, then winced. “I threw her into a table…I thought she was going to kill me.”

Miriam returned to the kitchen with a first aid kit and a quilted blanket, which she draped around her shoulders. “Is she still breathing?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s a damn shame.” Miriam settled into the chair opposite and set to work wiping the blood off her face gingerly. “I should’ve poisoned her a long time ago when I had the chance.”

“I’ll take care of it.” Michael was at the side door in a few paces, but Miriam held up her hand.

“You’ll do no such thing.”

Michael turned sharply. “She can’t keep getting away with this.” The dishes in the cabinets and jars on the counter shuddered from the burst of energy.

“And she won’t,” Miriam promised. “Last thing we need is to do something impulsive and foolish. That won’t help the situation at all—not right now, not tonight. I know you’re angry; hell, so am I, but she’ll get what’s coming to her when the occasion arises. We just have to be smart about it and wait.”

“I don’t want her to get hurt again.” She saw the tremor in his lower lip, even if he fought against it. “If something happens…”

“She’ll be perfectly safe,” Miriam assured. She let out a sharp exhale when the antiseptic came in contact with the open cut that edged her hairline. Miriam took her hand. “You’re staying here with us for the night. You’re not going back there, not if I have anything to say about it.”

“My parents are out of town for the weekend.”

Miriam’s face broke into a broad smile. “Even better.”

***

The patter of raindrops against the window coupled with distant rumbles of thunder was enough to soothe her anxiety at last. She found herself exhausted but unable to sleep. Which was fine because Michael couldn’t sleep, either. She’d crept down the hall from the guest bedroom to his room; he’d been awake, and she’d crawled silently into bed beside him. Without a word, Michael pulled her in close so that she was nestled in the crook of his arm, her head tucked against his chest. The painkillers Miriam had given her earlier were beginning to wear off—her cheek had a dull ache, the laceration on her head a mild annoyance—but there wasn’t anywhere else she wanted to be, not right now.

Michael dragged his fingers lazily through her hair, still damp from the shower she’d taken after Miriam patched up her injuries. At least now the metallic odor of her own blood had been replaced with the floral fragrance of shampoo. She’d borrowed a shirt and a pair of pajama pants from Michael—she really needed to start leaving her own clothes here in case of future emergencies—both of which managed to look a few sizes too big on her slender frame given their height difference. Not that she cared, really; she was warm and comfortable, wrapped up in Michael’s scent with his heart beating beneath her ear.

“It’s good that you radiate heat like a furnace,” she told him. Her voice was hoarse and a little sleepy. “Because I’m still freezing.”

That rain had been colder than she thought, leaving her with a chill she couldn’t quite shake.

She felt the soft vibration of his laughter below her cheek. Michael’s hand traced patterns across her back, warming her skin underneath the fabric of her shirt. His other hand still hadn’t left her hair, and she was quickly becoming lulled by the gentle rhythm of his fingertips.

Michael sighed. It sounded long-suffering to her ears; an exhaustion that she couldn’t fully comprehend.

“If something had happened to you, if she had—”

“Don’t, Michael,” she countered. “Don’t go there.” She draped her arm over his stomach. “I wouldn’t have let her kill me, you know that.”

“I know.” He was quiet for a long minute. “I just…don’t want to lose anyone else.”

She could hardly believe this was the same boy who’d nearly brought an entire house down around himself, who’d used his powers in silent rage to inflict pain on people who’d hurt her, who’d been brought into this world just to tear it down.

“You won’t,” she assured when she heard him sniffle. “And I’m not going anywhere.”

“The world will be different someday,” Michael said, and she closed her eyes, conjuring the images of fire that had come to her when she’d lost herself in the midst of her own power. “Something better will rise from the ashes once this one’s done burning. I don’t know how to get there…I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, but I think the two of us were meant to find our way to each other.”

She opened her eyes. “It feels stronger than just a coincidence.” She’d believed that was true for some time now.

“I can’t do this alone,” Michael admitted, his voice barely above a whisper.

“You don’t have to.”

That night, Michael finally told her about the house he’d been born in—a house haunted by too many ghosts, a house where the only family he’d known had given him up to the darkness.

The following weekend, she stole the last breath from her aunt’s lungs with a flick of her wrist after she’d passed out drunk in her bedroom. She and Michael watched the house burn down together, standing side-by-side on the grass, bright orange embers drifting upward to meet a pitch black sky.

@lastregasolitaria  @mylippo  @zeciex  @lvngdvns  @langdonsdemon  @yourkingcodyfern  @sojournmichael  @gabnelson98  @rainbowrosesjas  @antichristlangdxn  @keavysmithxoxo  @artistlunadrayne  @codysfallenangels  @batgirlbride  @mileeyyowens  @dead-witch-boy @boofy1998  @gentianea  @cryptid-coalition  @langdonsrapture  @kinlovecody  @yuriohoe04  @electricurie @marvel-rpdr-and-ahs @gallxntdean  @langdonscurls  @jcshadowkiss-blog  @frozenhuntress67  @sebastianshoe  @dixmond-taurus @bookobssesed99 @sassylangdon  @queenie435  @holylangdon  @weareallevilmotherfuckers  @langdonfern  @angsty-otters-blog  @denaexr  @mr-langdonn @micheallangdons  @lostin-fern  @crazedcatcuddler  @satansapostle  @monsucre @softlangdvn  @ritualmichael 

[undertaleheadcannonsfromagremlin]

Can I have meetcute headcanons for FS Papryus, US Sans, MT skelebros and UT Sans for an artist S/O

I’m amusing that you wanted some headcanons for when the skeles meet their artistic s/o?

FellSwap Papyrus- Rus doesn’t actually leave the house much, mostly due to anxiety and other issues that he deals with, rather wanting to be in the comfort of his own home, than be out and just feeling out of place. So, why on earth was he out of the house? Oh, right, Mal demanded, out of some hidden concern, that he needs to at least go out every once in a while and that he couldn’t be cooped up in the house all day. So, he was somewhere quite, lazing about, a park specifically. There was no one around, at least he didn’t see anyone that was in the nearby vicinity as him, he had to admit, it was a nice day out, it was peaceful up on the surface. Much better then the underground, which he was thankful that things had changed, even in the slightest. A small, yet shy voice caught his attention, his head snapping in the direction of the voice, he was startled that he didn’t even hear the person coming, he could feel the panic rising in him. “… -ey. Hey! I- uh, I hope you don’t mind, but can I draw you?” The voice finally reached him, in which he was surprised, this person wanted to draw them? He noticed that their cheeks were flushed red in embarrassment, clearly as nervous as he feels right now. They seemed to not be much of a social person like him. Though he did something odd, he gave them consent to draw him. And he spent hours in the park, the two talked, and he had learned that the human absolutely loved creating things, and drawing others, it seemed that they truly wanted to draw him, and they held no ill intentions towards him. The two were a bit dorky while talking, some jokes being exchanged between the two, before the person was done, showing him the sketch of him. “I’ll be able to finish it later tonight, if your here tomorrow, I would love to give it to you and talk to you again!” the person ended up writing their phone number on a piece of paper, along with their name, sending the biggest, cheerful smile his way as they left, his gaze then going to the piece of paper that held that person’s name and number. Their name was s/o, huh…

Underswap Sans- It had been a few months since the monsters had been living on the surface, and there was still so much to see, Blue just loved how there were so many new and different things on the surface, and now he had a chance to try new things! Currently, he, along with Stretch, were walking through a park, where there was a strange, yet special thing going on, something called… Art in the park? That sounded interesting, and of course, he just had to check it out, Blue led the way as Stretch walked a leisure pace behind him, taking his sweet time. Not that Blue expected differently, his brother always did this type of stuff, he was too relaxed for his own good, sometimes-! His eye sockets slightly widened as he saw that they had arrived, and much to his pleasant surprise, it was lively, colorful, it showed off all the different art types, and it was all beautiful! His eyelights turned into stars, amazed by how many talented people there were here, though his eyesockets landed on some specific art, that absolutely too his breathe away- it was a beautiful portrait of the cliffside over the ocean, a light, but cloudy sunset in the background. It reminded him of when he saw the first sunset, how he was in a happy daze, staring to the colorful sky as it was darkening. Without even realizing it, he headed over to where the portrait was, up until he was in front of it, admiring it, when he heard a light, but amused voice speak, “Ah, you like it?” That voice was soft, gentle in a way, his gaze swiftly moved from the portrait to the person in front of him, the person having a shy smile on their face, a tinge of red on their cheeks. “It’s beautiful! It reminds me of the first time I saw the sunset!” he spoke, excitedly, his eyes returning to the portrait. “You know, if you want it you can have it. You have the artist consent to, hun.” the person spoke, his head snapping towards the person, eyes wide, this person made this masterpiece? It was beautiful! “R-really?” he spoke, his voice wavering slightly, the person worked hard on it, it wasn’t right for him to take it from them. “Yeah, really. Mind telling me your name? I’m s/o.”

Mafiatale/Mobtale Papyrus- Now, Sweet Cheeks was a more sociable, and most of the time people don’t even realize he was in the mafia, which was good for him, considering that it does help out with his job, when he needed information, to spy, or if he needed to give some “tips” to the police about others. Yeah, he sometimes helps the police with things, only because he wanted to be part of the police force ever since he was a small skeleton-! Currently, he was walking down the street, of a bad neighborhood, there were little to no people outside, as he was passing an alleyway, he heard a praying sound coming from the alley, which caught his attention. Much to his dismay, his curiosity got to the better of him, in which he decided to check out what was happening. He caught sight of a person, that was shorter then him, creating a work of art on the wall of the building with different spray paints, the person wearing a face mask, covering the lower half of the face, only their eyes visible. It was a rather pleasant artwork that they had created, the colors and the details work well together. “You’re pretty good at this stuff, aren’t cha?” he questioned, he may or may not have startled the person, a small squeak of surprise escaping their lips as their head snapped in his direction, their eyes scanning him, before their shoulders slumped slightly. “You sure know how to sneak up on someone.” they mused, neither confirming or denying his question. Before he could question why exactly they were spray painting on the wall, they spoke, “You know, it’s a shame how many people put some less the pleasurable things on the walls in this neighborhood. I thought I might change it up for once.” Gathering their supplies into a backpack, they were ready to leave, to go on their way to god knows where. “Your art is pretty good, much better then most of the graffiti around here.” He spoke, catching the person’s attention, he assumed that the movement behind their face mask was them smiling now. “Awe, thanks. I’m still getting the hang of doing graffiti, it’s a new type of art for me to try out. It’s pretty fun!” they spoke with a small laugh, the laugh was actually really nice sounding. He wouldn’t mind hearing them laugh again, honestly. “I’ll see you around…” they spoke, hinting at his name, in which, for some reason, he gave, maybe it was in hope that he truly would meet them again, “Sweet Cheeks.” “Sweet Cheeks, huh… That suits you. I’m s/o, “ and after that, they were quick to depart.

Mafiatale/Mobtale Sans- Killer ad a problem that he had to deal with, another gang was tagging their territory, it was annoying, and they were not going to get away with it, the graffiti that was often left was derogatory, and vile. Not something that he liked seeing when he was traveling for “meetings” and other types of things he does for his mafia. Whoever was leaving the derogatory graffiti wasn’t going to live to see another day. A humming caught his attention, hearing a can spray things, a smirk on his skull as he knew that he most likely got the brats that were leaving their marks. That was, until he saw who was doing the graffiti over the ones that were vile, the person was actually covering it with something that was quite appealing. “I wouldn’t suppose you know who has been leaving the graffiti you’re covering up?” he questioned, the person jumping ever so slightly at his voice, turning around with a nervous smile. “Naw, I don’t. I just don’t want to see those dumbasses leaving these things out here for everyone to see. I’d rather cover it with… Art.” the person hummed, before continuing, I mean, this person was doing a good job at covering the tags of the other gang, which was good. “You know, its dangerous to be doing this type of stuff out here. Is it really worth the risk?” Why was he even concerned? Maybe because it was not a good idea doing this type of stuff with god knows who nearby. “I think it is. I’d rather cover the darker parts of life with the beauty of creation… Ah! It’s getting late! I’m sure I’ll be back here later to cover up more vandalism, hopefully I can see you again, sometime soon!” the person spoke, quickly packing up, and taking their leave. Huh, maybe they would see that person again…

Undertale Sans- Honestly, he was doing this favor for Toriel, since Frisk had signed up for art class when school started, and she had asked Sans to help them, along with Papyrus, to get Frisk’s school supplies, Papyrus and Frisk going to pick out clothes and other things, while Toriel got the boring things, and he was left with getting the art supplies that Frisk is required to bring to their art class, he was getting them at a local art store, where they sold supplies, art made by local artist, and materials that large brand stores don’t normally sell that could be used for art. Sans glanced at the list, a light sigh escaping him, he was going to get this done. A light tap on his shoulder got him out of his daze, as a person with kind eyes looked at him, a smile on their face as they asked, “I-uh, I couldn’t help but notice you looked a bit lost… It must be your first time in here. I can help you- only if you want- I mean- I-!” the person spoke, face flushing from embarrassment as they stuttered, stumbling over their own words, a light chuckle escaping him as he watched them, this would get things done faster, surely, but by the looks of it, they don’t work there, so why were they helping him? There were always people with ulterior motives, but there are also people that just enjoy helping others. There’s no way too truly know the intention of others until you see the side they don’t let on. “Sure, kiddo. You can help me if you want.” It was much faster with someone who knew where the supplies were, and what supplies were the best, but also affordable. “…So your friend is doing art in school? That’s cool! I hope they enjoy it as much as I did back in school.” the person spoke with a smile, though their smile faltered ever so slightly, when they realized something, “I forgot to introduce myself, my bad, the name is s/o!”

Hopefully this is good for your standards, haha

[bluefurcape]

When It Rains

This was a prompt from @itslulu42 on discord and I don’t think you’ll remember giving it but I started immediately then forgot about it. Then I came back to it and my note on it said “Smooth jazz kakashi” and I of course had to start back in bc I needed to know what happened next. 

I think the prompt was something along the lines of Amnesia, but instead of angsting Kakashi keeps hitting on Sakura. Part one of...three maybe. And vaguely i mixed in a KS Month prompt but now it’s too late and guess i’ll just die.

Haruno Sakura had known Kakashi since she was twelve years old. And he had known her since he was…well, she wasn’t exactly sure how old he was, since he never divulged that. The only reason any of the former members of Team 7 Kakashi knew his birthday was the success of an elaborate ruse enacted a long time ago, involving Icha Icha, balloon animals, and a knife.

Kakashi smiled at her without recognition, his eyes crinkling pleasantly. From his bed, he looked around the hospital room and the people gathered with mild curiosity. There was a faded yellow bruise exactly the size of an egg on his forehead, an injury that Sakura had healed only moments ago. Despite the stifling heat of summer outside, the air conditioning kept the room comfortably cool. The sweat that had dampened her clothes on her walk over to the hospital was almost making her chilly.

She took a deep breath, recounting the facts as they had been told to her, because she was having trouble processing. “Kakashi and Gai were doing one of their stupid bets.”

“Right,” Shikamaru said.

“And they were climbing Kakashi’s face on the Hokage monument,” she continued and he made a noise of confirmation. “They saw a nest of what they thought was a rare extinct bird and decided to check it out.” Slowly she began to shake her head. “The rare bird has an ability to take away memories. Kakashi and Gai forgot who they were and fell off the monument. The only reason they’re still alive is because you were nearby, playing hooky, and you managed to shadow grab the two of them.”

Shikamaru nodded.

“And how did Kakashi get this enormous welt on his head?” she asked.

“He may have bounced on some rocks before I got to him.” He looked away, shrugging in feigned innocence. If he thought that Sakura would reproach him, he was wrong, because Kakashi definitely deserved more than few knocks to the skull. Especially for this particular mess.

“Shikamaru?”

“Yes?”

“This is really bad.”

“I know, Sakura.”

“Really, really bad.” Sakura began to pace the length of the room, from the window to the opposite wall. She didn’t know what she’d been expecting when she received the urgent summons on her day off, but it wasn’t this. “So unbelievably bad. The Kage coalition arrives today. They’re going to be expecting Kakashi to be making a speech in a week. He can’t make a speech when he’s a drooling idiot!”

“Hey, I’m not drooling,” Kakashi piped up, highly offended. In a lower voice, he asked, “I’m Kakashi, right?”

She was somewhat relieved that he could still talk. All the stupidly vacant smiling was giving her suspicions otherwise. As a test, in case this was some kind of elaborate joke courtesy of Shikamaru, she asked, “Do you know who I am?”

“No, but I’d like to,” he responded automatically.

Her jaw dropped and then she shut it. “Excuse me?”

Shikamaru cleared his throat, but it sounded more like strangled laughter that he choked back down.

“My priorities are a little off here, but would you be interested going out to dinner with me?” Kakashi asked.

“Ask me again when you get your memories back,” she said flatly.

“Well, that’s very good motivation.”

Sakura turned to Shikamaru and widened her eyes. She knew something had been up when Kakashi and Gai had been admitted to the hospital and no one was allowed to treat them or see to them until she personally arrived, even though she had not been actively treating patients, except when her expertise was required, since her promotion to medical director. Her mind had reeled with worst case scenarios, disembowelment, lost limbs, broken spines. Instead, she walked in and Kakashi waved to her, a nasty welt on his temple, but otherwise whole, according to her diagnostic check. Gai was in the same state. Physically, nothing was wrong with either of them, they just had the misfortune of running into a magic memory thieving bird.

“You weren’t called in just to check on his health,” Shikamaru said, leaning against the window sill. “The Council is giving you an assignment. Obviously, we need you to monitor the Rokudaime in case his condition deteriorates. The second thing is that you need to try and jog his memory and bring him back.”

Her instinct was to question the choice. He had been her captain and they had an easy relationship, but she barely knew him. Kakashi kept his secrets close and it made small talk with him a bitch, because he apparently considered everything a secret. Still, she understood the reasoning behind the assignment. Kakashi didn’t have any family left. His father had passed when he was only a child. His mother, even earlier. As far as she knew, he had no relatives in Konoha who could tell him familiar stories. Naruto was often away on high ranking missions and there was no telling when he would return.

She turned to Kakashi, who was watching her with a smile. “I’ll try my best,” she said doubtfully. She glanced at Gai. “What about him?”

“We thought it best to allow him some recovery time before calling in Lee.”

“…Good idea.” This would devastate Gai’s protege. A volcano of emotions was surely waiting.

#

“Ha-ru-no Sa-ku-ra,” Kakashi said, as if the syllables of her name were a song. He grinned, pleased with himself.

“Right. And your name is..?” Sakura gestured to him in encouragement.

“Uh…”

“Ha,” she prompted him with the first sound of his clan name.

“Ha…Ha…Haruno Kaku?”

“Hatake Kakashi,” she corrected patiently.

“I would much rather be Haruno Kakashi.”

She flushed, her face heating. “Well, you aren’t.”

“But there isn’t a Mr. Haruno Sakura around, right?”

Sakura bit her lower lip, trying not to laugh. Ever since he’d become her charge, the flirting had been incessant. She figured the magic bird had affected his impulse control in some way. However coming from him, the cheesy lines were actually kind of endearing. “No. No there isn’t.”

He nodded innocently, sitting primly on the ancient sofa in his apartment. His place was unsurprisingly neat, though all of the pieces of furniture looked at least a decade older than her, edges worn away and colors faded. It was also definitely a bachelor pad in every sense of the word. A narrow twin bed, suitable for one and only one. A closet full of the same articles of clothing.

When she entered the kitchen, she found a single set of utensils, a mug, a bowl, and a plate in the cupboard. Just to have something to do, she placed the kettle on the stove anyway to make some tea. One of them could use the bowl to drink out of. Did he never have people over? She tied up her sweaty hair and wished silently that she could at least take a shower. The council had laid down a strict water ration due to the extended drought this year. Bathing was restricted to about fifteen minutes and the mandate encouraged the villagers to go a few days in between. Her stink wasn’t too bad, as far as she could tell, but she missed standing under a nice stream of water and forgetting about the world.

She leaned against the counter, wrapping her arms around herself, feeling hopeless. She didn’t even know where to begin.

“Does any of this ring a bell?” she called out. All of this was a shot in the dark. Bring Kakashi to familiar places and see if anything happened was her general plan. She hated it because she loved real plans. Strategy with complexity. Tasks that could be conquered. Instead, she floundered, coming up with ideas on the fly.

“Nope,” was the cheerful response. At least he was taking this memory loss business in stride. If it were her, she would be freaking out at being completely untethered.

The kettle whistled and she poured the hot water out into the mug and the bowl. From one of the cupboards, she dug up a dented box of genmai and added the tea bags, letting the tan tendrils swirl. There was a solitary tray of ice in the freezer that she took a few cubes from, because she simply did not feel like drinking hot leaf juice in the middle of a drought. Out of curiosity, she checked the bottom part of the fridge too. A nearly empty carton of eggs and an old box of take out greeted her. The inside was bare bones. She was finally getting a glimpse behind the walls that Kakashi maintained and rather than a suave, older man like she had been half expecting, she was getting a sense of just how alone he was. Guilt twisted her lips into a frown. She could claim that she hadn’t known, but that was just an excuse. Her own life was a little more than she could handle. Late night shifts. The constant fires that needed to be put out. Kakashi had been there, quiet in the background, and her attention had glanced over him and determined him a lesser priority because honestly, he seemed fine.

She brought the tea over to the living room, offering  Kakashi the mug and taking the bowl for herself. He accepted the beverage then looked back at her and said, “Now, I know I don’t have any memories, but is it customary to drink from a bowl?”

“There weren’t any other cups,” she explained as she curled herself into the armchair perpendicular to the sofa.

“Hm. Okay.” He lowered the hospital mask and took a sip. When he noticed Sakura’s blatant stare, he cautiously asked, “What?”

Even without his memories, Kakashi had chosen to continue to wear the mask. He didn’t seem to notice it or question why he was wearing one.

She caught a glimpse his long, straight nose and lips that lifted in an easy smile. She was almost upset that she hadn’t known before that every time he shot a grin at her, the mask had hidden a set of slightly crooked teeth and a chipped canine that she found unnervingly charming. She wanted to cradle his face in her hands.

Part of her resisted telling him, craving the pleasure of simply seeing him. But it was only right that she tell him, rather than let him go on and act in a way that he would resent her for later. “You probably don’t know this, but you never show your face to anybody,” she said calmly, hiding the giddy urge to get on her feet and dance in her own personal victory.

He hummed to himself and tugged on the elastic strings of the mask hanging around his ear. “Never?”

She nodded her head.

“Is it because I’m ugly?” he asked, touching his lower lip as he frowned.

“No!” Her response was a little too emphatic, even to her own ears.

“Ah. Good.” He smiled again and her heart beat faster.

She was unused to feeling this way around him and she was both curious and disconcerted. To distract herself, she leaned over to the side table and picked up the only two photo frames that Kakashi seemed to possess.

The older one was a photo of his team when the Fourth had been his captain. It showed a young Kakashi glaring at the camera, standing next to a dark haired boy in goggles. The Fourth stood behind them, his hands affectionately ruffling their hair. The last member, a young girl with short brown hair, beamed in the front. She couldn’t help but notice the similarities between this photo and the other one, which was of Team 7 in the early days. A nostalgic smile played on her lips.

“Who are those people?” Kakashi peered over at the photographs.

“Your friends…” she responded tentatively, a sinking feeling in her stomach.

…those who abandon their friends are worse than scum.

“Oh. Are they still around? Maybe they can help me get back my memory.”

She hesitated. She’d heard rumors of what had happened to Kakashi’s old team--none of it sounded happy. The dark haired boy must have been Obito, who would become the same man that Kakashi had thought dead and carried guilt over for decades. In a twist, Obito had turned out to be alive during all of that time, but even that was complicated and…he certainly was gone now. Of the four people in the photograph, Kakashi was the only survivor. Painful trauma didn’t seem like the best place to start with his memories.

She held up the photo of Team 7 instead, hoping that he wouldn’t notice her deliberate omission. Team 7 had gone through it’s own troubles, but the ending was happier. At least they had that. She pointed at their younger selves with exaggerated enthusiasm. “That’s you and me. The blond one is Naruto and the scowling one is Sasuke.”

“Sasuke looks like he has a stick up his ass,” he commented immediately.

“An accurate assessment.” She snorted. “You were my teacher and then later, my captain. Do you remember?”

He scratched his chin in thought. “Teacher, huh? That doesn’t sound right to me.”

“On the first day I met you, you were very late, fell for Naruto’s stupid trick, and told us that you hated us.”

“Yikes.”

“And then you had Naruto tied up because he tried to cheat.”

Kakashi squinted at the picture. “Naruto’s the blond one, correct? The one who looks like he hasn’t realized that he’s crushing on the other one?”

Sakura blinked and looked for herself. “What.”

“How long ago was this picture taken?”

“Ten, I think.”

“So, are they married now? The hate sex must have been good.”

Her cheeks flushed. She did not want to think about two of her closest friends getting it on! “Gross. They aren’t together and you’re not allowed to talk about them like that. Sasuke is on some kind of redemption quest and Naruto is on a long term mission to the east.”

He made sarcastic air quotes as he said, “’Redemption quest.’”

“This isn’t working, let’s move on,” she grumbled.

[skeletorific]

Okay. I'm not sure if this has been asked yet, but...what's it like to hug one of the skeletons? Any AU is fine, pick your faves.

Oohh shit this is a recent one but I’ve had it in my head for days

UT!Sans: Its rare he’ll hug you impromptu (unless you’re dating). When he does its usually to say goodbye. One armed squeezes that are warm, but fleeting. His hoodie smells like old ketchup that quickly overpowers whatever detergent Papyrus tries to use. 

On rare occasions, when you’re upset and just need some comfort, they last longer. His hand rests on the back of your head, lightly stroking your hair as he hushes you. The layers of clothes soften the sharp edges of his bones and he gives off an unusual amount of warmth for a skeleton. Something to do with his magic storage. He’s quiet, just letting you process and trying to let you feel his presence

When you are involved, its usually from behind. His ribs pressed against your back, his head tucked into the crook of your neck as he breathes you in and asks you how your day went. He likes feeling your heartbeat, slow and steady, letting him feel how calm you are around him. His favorite sound to fall asleep to. In fact he might just drop off while you’re standing there. Sans for fuck’s sakes we’re in the kitchen-

UT!Papyrus: Frequent, platonically or otherwise. Especially when he gets excited. When’s he’s managed to finally get the puzzle how he wanted it and he just picks you up and swings you around, yelling about how great it is and how happy he is to share this with you. He smells largely like laundry soap, with a little bit of MTT brand cologne. He can be a bit poky but fortunately, he’s a fan of soft sweaters which can dull it a bit.

When you’re upset it’s much less violent. In fact, chances are seeing you cry is going to set him off too. He picks you up and takes you to the couch, your head on his chest and his knees forming a natural wall between you and the outside world. He talks rapidly, assuring you that it’s going to be alright, that you and he will get through this.

Oddly enough he’s not much for impromptu cuddling. He’s more of a get up and go kind of guy and while he’s more than happy to set aside some time to cuddle he doesn’t do it much spontaneously. Still, lots and lots of really good hugs.

UF!Sans: He will literally only hug you if you are either dating or in deep emotional distress and no one else is around. Not very touchy feely. Even when its the latter its almost unbearably awkward. He doesn’t know where to put his hands to make this not weird and he just gently pats your back and waits for you to let go. Given how damn fluffy that hoodie is I cannot recommend letting go for a while though. He smells like mustard, smoke, and metal from the scrap he always carries in his hoodie

When you’re dating its a whole other story. Any time alone is spent resting on his chest. When you’re within reach you’re safe. Also, what can he say, he likes touching you, like squeezing you at odd moments or stroking your hair, speaking in low murmurs and feeling your warmth wash over cold bones. He’s usually got a bruise or two and a couple hairline fractures which can make it a somewhat risky process, but for him its more than worth it.

When you’ve just been under threat, or when he hasn’t seen you for a while, they’re tight and inescapable. His ribs are pressing in deep and it hurts a bit but you don’t really care. Arms are locked tight around you and his mouth is by your ear, breath ghosting along your neck as he whispers assurances or welcome homes.

UF!Papyrus: Not a hugger, even if you are dating. Seriously, not about that life.

Two exceptions. One, again, emotional distress. And holy shit is it awkward. Edge is seriously not much for the “emotional comfort” friend. He’s shifting awkwardly, patting your head and muttering things like “THERE, THERE”. And holy shit are his bones poky. The battle body is NOT helping. He smells like dryer sheets, metal, and dust

Second exception. When you’re both involved In bed, when he thinks you aren’t awake, he’ll end up curling around you, face buried your shoulder and arms gently drawing you to his chest. Breathing you in, enjoying the unusual closeness. He’s touch starved and will never admit to it, so this is one of the few times he’ll allow himself a little license. He’ll occasionally whisper praises, soft words, things that take him months to say to your face.

Once you start to wake up he’ll let go, backing off a little to preserve the illusion of space. If you were awake the whole time….congrats on the blackmail material, he will give you literally anything to make sure you tell no one

US!Sans: Like his Tale counterpart he likes giving hugs frequently, and he’s got that extra Sans Squish™ that makes it even more comfortable. Or at least it would if Blue didn’t often severely underestimate his own strength. Seriously, people have ended up with bruises. He gets excited.

Blue is one of the few skeles who know a single fucking thing about decent cologne and at all times smells faintly like citrus. He likes keeping packets of lemon tea in his bandanna because it makes things smell clean. 

Cuddling or moving around? WHY CHOOSE? His favorite is to have you piggy back so you get the closeness without the limitied mobility, but he also like you to koala with him and loves cuddling while he does more busy work or reading. Touch can work as an extra stimulation that helps him focus while he reads or writes.

US!Papyrus: Gods he loves hugs and has no fucking clue how to ask for it. Like, seriously, just go up and hug him, chances are he’s not gonna push you away. And he’s actually not bad at them if you can get over the overwhelming cigarette aroma. Got a perfect knack for exactly how long it can last before it gets weird as well as a good tightness ratio. 

Once you start dating he likes sliding his hands down and scooping you up by lifting your thighs and hitching your legs around him, carting you to the nearest couch for naps. When he’s forced to get out of bed he is seriously weak for you just koala-ing him and clinging to his torso while he does what he has to. Stretch gets cold pretty easy and this is a nice layer of heat. When you’re doing stuff he fucking drapes himself on you and won’t get off no matter how much you ask, shit-eating grin the entire time.

SF!Sans: He tries to pretend he doesn’t like hugs but he’s got a lot of Blue in him yet. Do yourself a favor and don’t try to initiate it unless you’ve got a pretty well established relationship, he’ll shove you off none too gently, growling.

If he does initiate it its usually in a fit of jealousy, whether dating or not. He’s trying to shove it down the others throat that this is his human, not theirs. The hugs way too tight and painful, and go on way too long. He’s glaring the entire time. When will this nightmare end.

But something changes. You walk in on him, upset over something. The stress of it all weighing on him too heavily. Rus has been out longer than he said and isn’t answering his phone. Any variety of reasons, and you can tell that he’s in a vulnerable place. You ask him if there’s something you can do….and he just grabs you. Wrapping his arms around you from behind, tight but not the usual bone-crushing fare. His face is buried in your hair, and you can’t see his face but you can hear the hitch in his breathing, feel his chest heaving shallowly, and know that he’s trying his best not to cry. 

Don’t try talking to him, he needs silence right now. But he holds you quietly, clutching you like an anchor for twenty minutes or more. Finally, he releases you, cheekbones slightly flushed and muttering thanks before getting up and leaving the room.

SF!Papyrus: Not the cuddly type but he likes keeping you close. One arm hitched around your waist is usually enough, a reminder to others the consequences of messing with you. Its also a way to keep you at hand for emergency shortcuts. 

Hugs with him are slow and quiet. Long moments in the kitchen, late at night, with your head tucked under his chin and him rocking slightly, feeling you pressed against him. Like Stretch, Mutt reeks of smoke, but also dust. He’s warm though, and gentle, pressing your full body against his and letting both of you just feel each other. He especially likes to hold you while you’re wearing this jacket, looking down and seeing that face poking out of the familiar black material just makes him feel all kinds of good inside. 

[sussensecret]

⋆✺jungkook fic recs✺⋆

smut:  ♡           fluff: ☼          angst:   ☆

a list of our favorite jungkook fan fics. enjoy !

masterlist of all masterlist

Heart of the City - jungkxook  ♡ ☼ (DOESNT WORK) Spiderman!Jungkook  Summary: The responsibility that comes with putting on the red mask each night is followed by even greater risks for the people Jungkook is around. Telling you the truth could only end in one way but how long can he go before you figure out his little secret?

Irresistibile - jungkxook  ♡ ☼ (IT WORKS!!!!!!!!!!) College au Summary: The start of your freshman year of college, you have the utmost unlikely of tragedies to both meet Jeon Jungkook and fall into a deep, utterly helpless, and tenacious hatred for him.

Melomaniac -  jungkxook  ♡ (DOESNT WORK) Punk!Jungkook but also Prep!Jungkook Summary: “Your mother had always warned you about boys in ripped jeans and messy hair but she never warned you about boys like Jeon Jungkook.”

Hiraeth - jungkxook ☆ ♡ | 14 part series (DOESNT WORK) Zombie apocalypse au Summary: A world full of dwindling hope and lost loves and yet you and Jungkook are all the other needs to feel at home.

Just for Tonight - jungkxook  ♡ ☼ (IT WORKS!!!!!!!!!!) Summary: Jungkook plans on getting into the annual secret underground party for his birthday and you can’t help but tag along.

Exchanges -  workoftheaguk  ♡ ☼ Spiderman!Jungkook Summary: In which Jeon Jungkook is that friendly neighborhood superhero, you’re the face in the hallway that saved his high school career, and he can’t ever seem to get a grip around you. Even when he makes you scream after a fated accident—not for the reason you may be thinking; get the thought out of your head! 

After care - jungblue  ♡ Slytherin!Jungkook Summary: When Jungkook gets hurt during a quidditch game, and you want to give him a little extra attention afterwards.

Proposals - pjxmin ♡☼☆ Friends to lovers au Summary: You and Jeongguk propose at restaurants to get free food, but somewhere along the way you start to fall for him

In Bloom - tayegi ♡ Werewolf!jungkook

Roommates - tayegi  ♡☼☆  |  3 part series Roommate!jungkook

Zipper - jiminniemouse ♡ Bestfriend au Summary: Your best friend thinks it’s a good idea to watch porn together, he’s dumb.

Accio - minsvga ♡☼ Harry Potter au Summary: A food fight broke out in the middle of dinner one night. And, needless to say, being Prefects, you and Jeon Jungkook stepped up and stopped the fight - but also found yourselves covered in dungbomb residue and food afterwards. Also, there was an issue. There was only one Prefects’ bathroom…

Try-Hard - hobibliophile ♡ ☼ |  2 part series Rugby!Jungkook Summary: Yoongi asks you to help him photograph the university rugby team, and you’re reluctant until you see Jeon Jungkook in uniform. Damn.

Lock the Door - monstaccato ♡ Summary: In hindsight, maybe you weren’t that sorry for not locking the door.

Jasmine - btssmutgalore ♡

Winner Takes All - parkjammins ♡☼☆ Volleyball!Jungkook Summary: Jeon Jungkook chooses volleyball out of all the sports only because he loves flying in the air and making it impossible for his opponents to bring back up the ball with his power spike (and maybe it’s because he also wants to get inside your pants).

New Rules - tayegi ♡☼☆ | 9 part series on going Fratboy!Jungkook Summary: there isn’t a summary, BUT THIS IS HONESTLY MY FAVORITE FIC EVER  

Blue Orchirds - inktae ☆☼ Hanahaki & soulmate au

Givenchy & Gold - promixity ♡ | 2 part series Summary: you’re the supervisor of the clothing department with a lot of useless lingerie knowledge, jungkook is the jewelry department’s defiant hot boy who flirts in wristwatch brands. basically an upscale retail au, but with lots of implied under-the-counter sex. and when an opportunity presents itself to fuck each other in the boss’s office after hours, you’re both too hot for each other to say no.

Fall For You - kimvtae ♡ | 3 part series College au Summary: You hate a lot of things about Jeon Jungkook; you hate his arrogance, his reputation, and his pet name for you to name a few. But most of all, you hate how right it feels for you to fall into his arms, and how easy it is to fall for him.

Stuffed Pumpkin - floralseokjin ♡☼ Summary: Hooking up with the guy you’re neutral towards isn’t how you expected your night to go, especially dressed as a pumpkin…

Playing with Fire - floralseokjin ♡ Summary: jungkook seems to have a little crush on you, and no matter how much you try to ignore it, you seem to be losing your resolve with each passing day…

Sketch - moonscriptx ♡☼ Summary: After sixteen years of dreaming about the same unknown beautiful girl, Jungkook finally gets to put a name to her face – and she’s so much more than what he’s dreamt of.

The Wedding Planners - gukyi  ☼ Enemies to lover!au, wedding!au Summary: jeon jungkook is three things: cocky, terrible, and your worst enemy. then your best friend hoseok gets engaged to the love of his life, and suddenly jeon jungkook is four things: cocky, terrible, your worst enemy, and the man you will be spending the next seven months with in order to plan your best friend’s wedding.

Break The Ice - mint-tape ♡☼☆ Hockeyplayer!Jungkook, Hockeyplayer!Jimin Summary: There are three rules to become an official Puck Bunny: 1.     You have to love hockey. No exceptions. 2.     You have to had slept with at least three hockey players. Starters, no benchwarmers. 3.     And most importantly, have fun! 

Morning Rush - atdawnsuga ♡ College au Summary: You develop a strange relationship with the boy you share your morning commute with.  

Two Rotten Apples - chickenkooks ♡☆  | 4 part series on going Summary: we’re next-door neighbors and have hated each other since middle school but now we’re going to the same university how can we avoid the other person like the plague so there isn’t a crime scene— what do you mean you promised my mom you would keep an eye on me???? you fucking planned this

Not So Honest - wonhopes ♡ Roommate au Summary: Jungkook has got a pretty big problem, and he desperately asks you for your help.

I Think We Need To Talk - freehoseoksdick ♡☼ Summary: “i think we need to talk.” + “friends don’t get each other off”

Just Friends - kinkjungkook ♡☼☆ Best Friends au Summary: Jeon Jungkook was many things. He was an asshole, a tease, and kind of an inconsiderate roommate. But most of all, he’s your best friend, and has been since you were 10. When he suddenly confesses his attraction to you and proposes sleeping together, you are smart enough to turn him down. You knew Jungkook; you knew how he moved from one girl to the next. You, too, were many things, but just another notch in Jungkook’s belt was something you’d never be.

Amour Chassé Croisé - jungnoir ☆☼ Ladybug au Summary:  by day, you’re just a normal teenager in love with a popular model that goes to your school, jeon jungkook. but by night? you protect the city of paris under the alias ladybug, assisted by the ever elusive, ever anonymous, and ever so flirtatious, chat noir. you’ve always wondered who chat noir really is under the mask, but he may just be closer than you think.

Take What’s Yours (And Stay) - kidguk ♡☼☆ Summary: Friends to lovers to strangers is how it usually goes, but you and Jeon Jungkook have revisited each of those steps a few too many times over the past five years (aka the Jungkook college au with mutual pining, high school flashbacks, friends to lovers?, strangers to lovers?, who even knows?, and many shy & awkward moments that nobody asked for - enjoy).

Doxology - jeonjagiya ♡ Summary: You and a fellow churchgoer spend Easter Sunday sinning and sharing a secret. THIS WAS SO HOT AND WILD WHAT THE FUCK

The Nudist and The Prudist - gxtsmxt ♡ Summary: ❛❛ i saw you naked on your porch but jesus christ is my friend so i was hoping i would never see you again but here you are go away hot person❜❜ AU

Wildflowers - fireheart-namjoon ♡☼ Faerie au Summary: He’s gentle, each touch lingering as if he’s mapping each curve and dip of your body to memory. You lock your arms around his shoulders and slot your mouth against his, the press of his lips soft and warm. The kisses are slow, a languid glide that steals your breath gradually until your lungs ache with the need for air and your mind is fuzzy with desire.

Vaunt - yminie ♡ fratboy!jungkook Summary: Every weekend Beta Tau throws a ‘little’ party to help students relax and let loose and frat resident Jungkook has a big mouth that talks a lot of big game. You finally get sick of the lack of relaxation on your end and set out to see if he’s all talk. 

Gold Rush - nochugguk ♡☼ trackrunner!jungkook also a college au Summary: freshman Jungkook comes to you with an injured shoulder and a very concerning proposal

Secrets of silk - nochugguk ♡ ☆ ☼ | 3 part series camboy!jungkook also a college au Summary: when a dreamy camboy turns up at your university wearing bruises of yesterday, your guilty indulgence manifests into a racy obsession.

Blue isn’t for you - kidguk ♡☼ fratboy!jungkook Summary: Jeon Jungkook is the epitome of ‘new’ for you and, without a doubt, the strangest frat boy you’ve ever met.

Banter - littlemisskookie ♡ ☆ ☼ Superhero!Jungkook, Supervillain!Reader, also roommate au Summary: Ironically, some of your best moments are with your archnemesis, the man who you literally fight every other day. But the two of you might be closer than you originally thought.

The Devil’s Change Up - jungblue ♡☼ College au, baseball au Summary: Majoring in athletic training means you have mandatory observation hours to perform with every single sports team at your school throughout the year, and so far it’s been going pretty great. However, when regrets from your past cause your rotation with the baseball team to become a little rocky, there’s one star pitcher who says that he can make it all better.

Sugar-Coated - guksheart  ♡☼ Bakery au, neighbor au Summary: jeon jungkook, aspiring singer, works at a bakery with nothing but cupcakes and satisfied customers to occupy his time. one day, his next-door neighbor strolls into the shop with tears in her eyes, and his heart cannot help but worry why

The Underwear Thief - gukyi ♡☼ Neighbors au Summary: Jeon Jungkook would like to make one thing very clear:  it’s not his fault. Like every imperfect, morally flawed human being, Jeon Jungkook doesn’t like admitting things that are his fault are his fault. It’s in human nature to find some other explanation, point at a scapegoat that doesn’t have your name stamped anywhere near it. Like when he blames the fact that he missed the online quiz that was due at midnight on how he didn’t expect for the new episode of Orange is the New Black to be that long, even though they’re all practically the same length and he just has poor time management skills. Or when he accidentally takes the last of the soda in Jimin’s fridge and then proceeds to call Taehyung out for it so as to avoid the Park Wrath. Or when he shatters his phone screen and blames it on his faulty coat pockets rather than his carelessness, or when the knob for the cold water in the kitchen sink breaks off as a result of “poor plumbing” rather than his inability to control his random bouts of strength. Jungkook doesn’t like taking blame. But he swears, this time, it’s really not his fault.

Euphoria - 94hixtape ♡☼ ft jimiiiiiinnnnn, college au  Summary: there isnt one, but a niceeeeee threesome for yall

Set On You - bymoonchild ♡☼ college au, volleyball au Summary: Sports has never been your thing, so when you find yourself in a sports hall that reeks of perspiration and cologne and in front of a group of volleyball players whom you’re supposed to be managing (heck, you can’t even manage your own life), you know that you’re in Deep Shit™. Especially when Jeon Jungkook, the golden setter of the team aka the boy who holds stars in his eyes, starts to occupy your reveries, slowly becoming both the quiet and pandemonium of your heart.  

we will be adding more to this list, as time goes by !

[randomnessunicorn-imagine]

Could I get some h/cs for US / SF Sans and UF / SF Paps? Their s/o wears little accessories that reminds them of the skeletons? Like jewellery in the colour of their magic or a little bracelet with bones or something? Maybe a matching scarf in winter?

{ Oh, god-!I have still asks to answer but I can do it! }

💕 Blueberry~

Oh, wow-!You and him can match splendidly and everyone can understand by a look you are a couple.He will do the same, wearing your clothes so he can inhale your fragrance, it’s like you are by his side every time and he’s often busy with his job and there are days where he comes back home so late and he finds you sleeping. Wearing one of your clothes can help him to feel less alone and he won’t perceive your absence.Then, he thinks you are super cute wearing his bandana, it’s like you are doing a cosplay of himself, it’s pretty funny. He considers himself like a hero and he’s so proud of his outfit so he feels honoured if you choose to dress up like him.Even Undyne takes pictures of you and she ships you and Sans so hard, you two are so cute in her opinion especially when you two share the clothes, it’s something so romantic and tender.

💕 The Edge Lord~

He’s very jealous of his stuff and he’s searching for his scarf everywhere but it seems it vanished in tiny air. When he saw you wearing his scarf, he is a little pissed and, since he’s not a master in delicacy, he screams at you what you are fucking doing with his item and you are not allowed to wear a part of his armour. Yes, he considers it like a fundamental part of his combat outfit. Have you ever seen a knight without his helmet? For Papyrus his scarf is something like this, but it’s also a fashion clothe, its functions are various and you cannot dare to touch his stuff without his permission and without hearing one of his lectures. You should buy your own scarf if you care about it and he thinks that the thing of matching outfits is weird and uncomfortable. He has his own style and you have your own so what’s the sense of changing clothes? He does not get it.

💕 Blackberry~

He thinks it’s a sort of prank if you have stolen his item and he’s jealous of his stuff, too.Are you mocking him? Or maybe do you want to imitate him because he’s your role model? He’s flattered and he shows you the proper way to act like him even if you’ll never reach his supreme level of class and strength because he’s unique. None can compare with the fabulous Sans!He will show you how he’s cool in your outfit (for him it’s just a challenge of the one who looks most fantastic in the clothes of the other). Yes, your intentions have been confused and you face palmed yourself. Sans cannot take everything like a challenge… Yes, he can, you sigh.At least, you can have fun mocking him for real and he will do the same, some laughs have never killed anybody… Or anybody who has never met this crazy skeleton, good luck to you.

💕 Rus~

You are the cutest vision he could ever see and it seems you are so comfortable wearing his jacket. He does not get angry and he wants to observe you while you sleep using his jacket like a blanket. His jacked is very large and you are swimming inside it, it’s quite funny but he finds you so adorable.You can wear it every time you want but you have to know that he cannot live without his jacked so you should give it back to him. He does not want to ruin your fun or appear impolite but you notice his behaviour is weird and he feels lost without his jacket, so don’t get used to wear it too often and think about your poor skeleton without his precious clothe.He can still cuddle you, zipping you in his jacket like it was a trap and you will be unable to escape from his grip. Then, he’s agree with you and you two can find items to wear together, it’s something so cute and he’s the kind of guy who would do something like this with his mate.

[keelywolfe]

FIC: Spice

Summary: The problem with secrets is they only stay secrets when no one knows them.

Warnings: This chapter is Rated M for mature. 

Notes: Even more from @cheapbourbon ‘s village AU.

The story so far:

Crimson

Yellow

Blue

Blush

Sallow

Russet

Also on AO3

~~*~~ 

The world went on without a care for Rus’s eagerness for Wednesdays. Life in the village was unchanged, with a few small deviations.

For one, Rus did their weekly shopping on Monday morning, getting up early to go to the store the moment the shopkeeper opened. Only farmers and their kin were up at this hour, alongside the shopkeeper’s wife, who was able to smile politely at Rus and meet his eyes, as her husband no longer did. Much as Rus would have preferred sleeping a little longer, it was well worth it to return home unscathed, with Blue coming down the stairs as he came back in the door.

His brother didn’t question Rus’s new schedule, but there was a shadow in his eye lights, and a sadness. Likely blaming himself for not protecting Rus and that was ridiculous. He wasn’t a child, he could handle his own problems, and the fact that Blue was allowing him to said that he thought so as well.

It did not stop him from taking advantage of Blue owing the Dog family a favor. With very little coaxing, he persuaded Blue into making a batch of his spice cookies for them as a thank you. No one in the village made them better than his brother and Dogaressa had a passel of children; surely none of them would turn their wet little noses up at a treat.

Rus kept his hood up walking down the path to their home on the outskirts of town. Autumn was in full force and the wind was chilly this morning. All his venturing into the woods did have one pure benefit, Rus thought ruefully. Not that long ago, walking this far would have left him winded and today he only felt pleasantly tired, and quite able to walk back home when he was ready.

The farmhouse was plainly whitewashed, with a wagon in the midst of repair on the side of the yard. Hardy flowers were still blooming, bright yellows poking their faces out of ancient barrels turned to planters, and the sprawling fields around the house had haycocks ready for the winter dotting them. The curtained windows were glass, a testament to Dogamy’s success as a farmer. It was a cheery, welcoming home and Rus hadn’t a qualm about knocking lightly on the front door.  

A curtain twitched, giving him a glimpse of an eye and part of a muzzle, then it opened to reveal Emma, the eldest of the Dog children.  

“Rus!” Emma exclaimed with genuine pleasure. “What brings you all the way out here?”

He and Emma weren’t age mates, Rus being a handful of years older. He’d babysat for her a time or two when she had been a child, but she’d come of age this summer and was the very picture of a lovely farmer’s daughter. Her delight at seeing him, something none of his actual age mates ever seemed to offer, made Rus smile in return.

“your mother did me a good turn last week when I was ill,” Rus explained, holding up a package, “and my brother always told me that a favor given should have a favor returned before bad luck takes hold.”

“Oh, that’s nonsense!” Emma scoffed, laughing, “Come in, come in! Mamma is in town running the stand and Papa is out in the fields with the boys. It’s only me and Micah home, but come in for tea, won’t you?”

“i shouldn’t—” he started to demur, but Emma had her mother’s determination and her strength, hauling him and his light burden inside. In no time, Rus found himself seated at a well-scrubbed table, a cup and saucer in front of him waiting as the water heated.

The kitchen was filled with a sort of cheerful clutter, a vase of flowers alongside baskets of eggs and apples scattered about and there was a large pot steaming on the back of the stove, likely dinner for the many hungry bellies that would be back this afternoon.

Micah, the youngest pup, the one whom Blue had saved when he was born breech, was still on all fours, crawling happily at their feet. He took hold of the edge of Rus’s cloak and managed to haul himself upright, beaming proudly as Emma exclaimed over his triumph. His crow of glee turned to pleading as he held both arms up to Rus, and soon he was settled into Rus’s lap, sucking on a furry thumb and drowsing while Emma poured tea.

“I haven’t seen you in an age, Rus,” Emma said, stirring sugar into her own cup. “How is your brother?”

“as well as ever.” Rus busied himself opening the package, since cookies were excellent with tea. “busy, lately, there’s a grippe going around and fall always seems to be a busy time for little ones choosing to be born. he keeps on his feet, to be sure.”

“That’s good to hear,” Emma gave him a sad smile. “I do think of him from time to time. It was a terrible thing that happened, leaving him a widower so young.”

“it was,” Rus said, low, with a pang of his own grief, and they both made signs to protect the soul of a loved one lost.

“Well!” Emma sighed out, “I have to admit, I had a motive for getting you inside for a chat.” Emma’s ears twitched down, her hands curled tightly around her cup. “I overheard my parents talking about Elder Smith and you the other night.”

A chill went through Rus despite the warmth of the tea. “you did?”

She nodded. “A bit of, but papa seemed quite angry about it. Said it was a disgrace, in broad daylight and everything. Rus, what happened?”

Even Blue didn’t know the entirety of the story and yet, Emma’s eyes were kind, no hint of a gossipmonger within them. Hesitantly, Rus told her the story, haltingly at first and then everything came spilling out in a rush. By the end, Emma had a hand over her muzzle, shock and anger of her own visible on her pretty face.

“No wonder father was angry!” she whispered. “And the shopkeeper, he didn’t say a thing?”

“not a word,” Rus said unhappily. His spoon clinked gently as he stirred his cooling tea and in the crook of his arm, the baby stirred but didn’t wake. “elder smith has influence and no little wealth. he was afraid to, i expect.”

“A coward, more like,” Emma said spiritedly, then she shook her head. Misery colored her expression. “Oh, Rus. I have a secret of my own, if you promise to keep it.”

“of course,” Rus told her, and he would. Confessing to her made the burden of knowledge seem lighter on his soul; surely, he could offer the same.

Emma chewed on her lower lip, blinking too hard, “Elder Smith made a similar offer to me not a week ago, when I was working at the stand alone. Asked if I wouldn’t consider coming to his home from time to time to do a little housework.”

Rus gasped and made a warding sign against evil, because surely that was evil, far more than any he had found in the woods. He, at least, was getting a little long in the tooth for marriage. It might be explainable that an offer for some sort of future could be made, no matter how tawdry. But Emma was at the cusp of adulthood, she’d only taken to wearing the long, saffron cloak that bespoke of it this past month. Few parents would let daughters as young as Emma leave their homes for matrimony. Then again, he wasn’t offering for her hand so much as other parts of her. “emma, i can hardly imagine him being so bold, and to you of all people! did you tell your father?

She shook her head. “He would be ever so furious about it. He was quite angry over him speaking to you that way. And as you say, you can hardly believe it, who else would? All he offered was a chance for me to do a bit of housekeeping, truly, but his eyes…” Emma shivered, her own eyes downcast. “I thought it best not to say anything.”

A difficult choice, to be sure. Dogamy was a good farmer but he was only farmer, and he had a family to care for. Who knew what evils Elder Smith could wrought if he chose? Rus shook his head, unhappily, “perhaps you’re right. do be careful, emma, i…your father said he doesn’t like the smell of him.” Rus tapped his own face and his lack of a nose of his own. “i may not have the muzzle of your linage, but i don’t trust him, either. you’ll tell him if something else happens, won’t you?”

She nodded, sipping her tea, only to wince, “Oh, it’s gone cold. Let me make another pot.” With a thick cloth in hand, she took the kettle from the fire and poured hot water back into the teapot. “At least you might not have to worry about it much longer,” Emma said, and gave Rus a surprisingly sly look, smiling teasingly. “I overheard mamma say you may have a gentleman now. Perhaps he might settle the issue for you?”

Rus swallowed, inadvertently tightening his arms around the baby until he made a sleepy noise of complaint. He hardly remembered talking to Dogaressa that night, what had he said? “i…that is…”

“You needn’t tell me your secrets,” she said pertly and wagged a finger at him. “But I wouldn’t say a word to a soul, you goose!”

“maybe there’s a gentleman,” Rus mumbled. Heat was warming in his cheekbones, not entirely from embarrassment as thoughts of Edge filled his mind. Of last week, of the things they’d done.

“Oh?” Emma arched a brow at him, plucking a cookie from the plate and nibbling. “Mightn’t there be wedding bells in your future, then?”

“no,” Rus said quietly. He couldn’t even pretend that lie. “i think not. we’re only…well…that is…”

Emma looked gleefully scandalized, “Rus!”

“i’m not very marriageable, emma, and that’s a fact,” Rus sighed.

“Only because there’s so many fools in the village,” Emma said stubbornly, and Rus smiled weakly, warmed at her defense in spite of himself. “And he’s a fool if he’s only looking for milk without wishing to buy the cow!”

“emma!” Rus hissed.

She waved him off, “Oh, don’t be silly, I was raised on a farm!”

“anyway, it’s not like that,” Rus muttered. “it’s…we couldn’t possibly…but…”

She patted his arm, gently, “Do be careful, Rus? And come see me again, soon, won’t you? We’ll talk more, shan’t we, and I’ll keep your secrets if you keep mine.”

“i will,” Rus said gratefully, and their chatter turned to lighter subjects as they finished their tea.

~~*~~

 The next day as he walked through the wood, Rus considered what he was doing, this secret that he couldn’t speak of, not even to Emma. Though it had been a wonder to spend time chatting with someone who wasn’t his brother.

Emma was right, though, he did need to be careful, and not simply for his own sake. There was his brother to think of, and Edge, who was unaware of the danger he might be putting himself in by meeting Rus. Perhaps he should think about this more, pray for answers? Maybe even reconsider these meetings before they could take a poor turn.

Any thoughts of that evaporated as the clearing came into sight and with it, Edge. He was crouched by the fire, his cloak drawn back so the long lines of his legs were visible, long boots laced to the knee, and Rus swallowed thickly. Just looking at him was stirring, the forbidden crimson of his cloak no longer inspired fear but rather, something closer to longing.

Edge glanced up as Rus came closer and Rus raised a hand in greeting, “hello!”

He wasn’t expecting Edge’s sudden frown, nor the way he stalked over, taking Rus’s hand in his own. Something in his gaze was almost accusing and Rus could only blink at him in confusion, looking down at their clasped hands, his bones white against Edge’s gloved ones and—

“oh!” Rus exclaimed, “the gloves, of course. it’s a little warm for them yet, but then you’ve been wearing gloves every time we’ve met. all right, nanny, if you insist.” Rus drew them out and tugged them on, the buttery soft leather a formerly unknown pleasure against his bones. He waggled his fingers at Edge teasingly. “happy?”

It seemed so; Edge drew his hand up and kissed the mark at his wrist fondly as Rus watched in bemusement. Perhaps it was something of a traditional greeting for his people? If so, Edge was making up for them lacking it now, following the gloves up and lingering where the cuff met his shirtsleeve. Oh, he’d never known the bones of his arm could be so sensitive, shivering at the delicate gust of breath against them.

How could he have considered staying away from this, Rus thought hazily, letting Edge draw him closer to the fire. Perhaps this was a sin, but it was one for which he’d gladly beg forgiveness.

Edge sank to the ground, pulling Rus with him to sit between his splayed legs, and Rus tipped his head back, hoping for a kiss.

One that was eagerly granted, and Rus could only moan, settling his trembling hands on Edge’s knees and this time when Edge’s fingers plucked at his shirt buttons, Rus only sighed against his mouth and let him, whimpering as gloved fingertips stroked his ribs, following them back to where they met his spine.

“oh,” Rus sighed. Edge broke the kiss, his mouth hot and gentle against Rus’s cervical vertebra. Coaxing him wordlessly to tip his head to the side, granting him access to sensitive bone and cartilage. Hands skirting his waistband found the fastenings of his trousers and Rus tried not to flinch as they were unbuttoned, the placket opened and this time his hands didn’t simply venture within. They tugged, pulling his trousers lower and Rus closed his sockets tightly, lifting his hips and letting Edge pull them free.

Leaves rustled and crackled beneath him as he was turned and lowered to the ground, gentle hands ridding him of his shoes and trousers. He shivered, even with the warmth of the fire, as cool air touched his bones and then Edge was kneeling over him, his eye lights bright, moving avidly over Rus.

Blushing, Rus thoughtlessly tried to cover himself with his hands; no one had ever seen him like this, not only bare but with arousal thrumming hotly, visibly, at the crux of his legs. Only to have his hands caught, a kiss pressed again to the symbols on his wrist.

“No, no, no,” Edge murmured against the soft leather. “K’uhah. Rus, k’uhah.”

“i…i don’t…know what that means,” Rus stuttered out, but the reverence with which it was said made a low thrum pulse in his soul. He let his hands go lax, falling to the ground, and Edge slipped lower, his mouth hot against Rus’s ribs, tongue dipping lightly against his spine, his pelvis and then—

Rus’s shocked wail was cut off by his own hands, muffled into his gloves as Edge pressed his face between his legs and he stared sightlessly at the sky, sockets wide. His brother hadn’t mentioned any of this!

But how could he, how could he have ever explained the unbearable pleasure of a tongue moving against him, the soft, satisfied noises that Edge made as he lapped tenderly. The sharp, hungry glow of his eye lights as he looked up at Rus, and Rus jerked helplessly, fingers scrabbling uselessly at Edge’s skull as he pressed a finger inside him. The sweet, wet touch of his tongue was wonderful and wrong, nothing should feel so terribly good, and Rus could only squirm and whimper, easily held.

Dimly, Rus could feel sweat trickling down his face, stinging in his sockets, but it was as distant as a dream. Edge’s breath was hot against him, following the path of his tongue and heating the wetness it left behind, and his fingers were clever, matching its rhythm. Shuddering, Rus curled up, pleading in low, broken words but he was beyond caring that Edge couldn’t understand him. The pleas of his body were plain, and he needed…he needed, arching into the relentless pressure of Edge’s hands and mouth.

Another thin cry escaped him, torn loose, and with Edge’s name falling raggedly from his throat, Rus let the pleasure overwhelm him. It seemed endless, wracking him, cresting to nearly unbearable until Edge finally drew away, his hands soothing down Rus’s femurs.

Rus could only blink, dazedly, as Edge shifted up to settle between his legs. He was heavy, the weight of his body more than Rus had expected, and his cloak settled over them both, rough fabric against the bareness of Rus’s bones. A shift of his hips dragged the clothed shape of his arousal against Rus’s pelvis, making him gasp, his hands scrabbling at Edge’s shoulders.

Edge made a sound, close to a growl, leaning down to press his mouth to Rus’s, smearing wetness and oh, that faint sweetness was himself, wasn’t it, this was going so quickly, too quickly, he could feel Edge reaching between them, shifting to lower his leggings and--

“oh!” Rus gasped aloud, looking down and gaping as Edge took himself in hand. That hadn’t felt quite so large in his own hand last week, he couldn’t imagine such a thing fitting inside him, he knew it should, he…he knew it…and…

A trickle of fear was starting to thread its way through his desire, he wanted this, he didn’t want it. The tip grazed his pelvis and they both jerked, Edge with a groan and Rus with a whimper. He turned his face away, squeezing his sockets closed and the warmth of stinging tears only barely registered.

“Rus,” low and gentle, whispered to him, and the pressure of Edge’s weight eased. Startled, Rus looked up and Edge cupped his face in a hand, his thumb stroking over his cheek bone. Again, so softly, his own name, “Rus.”

Fear receded as Edge didn’t move, only stayed half-crouched over him. Despite his obvious need, despite the fact that Rus was so terribly exposed and available, he only stroked Rus’s cheek, murmuring softly to him, his name and words that Rus could only wonder at their meaning. 

“let…let me?” Rus whispered. Hesitantly, Rus reached down, his hands hovering, then cupping the heavy length. A sharp huff of breath escaped Edge in a groan and together, they stroked him.

Sweat was trailing damply down Edge’s skull, tension rising as his hips followed the clumsy rhythm of Rus’s hands. With his tunic rucked up and his leggings only barely lowered, he was a mess of disarrayed clothing and the heat in his eye lights melted into a vague daze as hot wetness fell between them, pattering softly on Rus’s pelvis. Ducking his head, Edge kissed him harshly, making a sound against Rus’s mouth that might have been a groan, might have been words, or perhaps a mixture of both. His weight was heavy against Rus again as he sagged down but this time Rus welcomed it, wrapping his arms around Edge and pulling him in close.

There was nothing but the faint rustle of leaves and the crackle of the fire, their breath mingling as it slowed.

With a groan, Edge shifted up on his elbows, looking down at Rus. His eye lights were softer, the deep crimson seemed lighter in the autumn sunshine.

“hello?” Rus offered, weakly, and Edge made a chuffing sound of laughter.

“Hello,” he replied, nuzzling a kiss against Rus’s teeth. “Hello, Rus. K’uhah.”

“i do wish i knew what that meant,” Rus sighed. “it’s certainly a pretty sounding word.”

Edge only tipped his head to the side curiously.

“pretty,” Rus tried, “k’uhah, pretty.”

“Pretty,” Edge repeated agreeably. “Pretty k’uhah. Pretty Rus.”

It made a blush rise in his cheekbones even though Edge couldn’t have known what he was saying. Cool air was starting to seep beneath Edge’s cloak, tickling at the places Rus was bare, and he squirmed until Edge reluctantly moved, letting him stand.

Maddeningly, he insisted on helping Rus with his trousers, which consisted more of him trailing his fingers over Rus’s femurs, down to stroke his ankles and feet as Rus struggled to put on his shoes around his tricksy fingers.

“you’re terrible,” Rus told him with fond exasperation.

“Terrible,” Edge agreed eagerly, stealing another kiss.

The light was already taking on tones of dusk, Rus saw unhappily. The shorter days were no friend of his, and with a last kiss, Rus tried to draw away. “i need to be getting home, i’m afraid.”

Only to be stilled by a hand on his arm and Rus blinked, perplexed, as Edge drew him down to sit next to him. For once, he kept his hands to himself, instead holding up a single leaf as he slowly said a word. When Rus only looked at him, confused, Edge twirled the leaf in his fingers and said it again, gesturing at Rus.

“leaf?” Rus asked, puzzled and Edge brightened, nodding.

“Leaf,” Edge agreed. He dropped it and they both watched as it fluttered to the ground. Patiently, he picked it up and dropped it again, mimicking its path with his hand. And again, fluttering his fingers behind it as it fell.

“um. down? fall? falling leaf?” Rus tried, and Edge nodded, satisfied.

“Leaf fall,” Edge looked pleased. “Rus and Edge, home, leaf fall.”

“home. leaf fall. we should be home as the leaves fall?” Rus muttered. Oh, he’d never cared for puzzles the way his brother did. He sorted through it, trying to understand, then it clicked. “oh! oh, yes, we should be home during the winter, yes.” He smiled, happy that he’d understood. “rus and Edge, home for the leaf fall.”

It made an ache rise in his chest to think of it, but he could hardly wade through snow drifts to see Edge. Terrible as it was to consider, Edge was right, they would have to be home for the ‘leaf fall’, as he put it.

Just imaging it made him tired. Back home for the entirety of winter, back to spend all his days in the village. Without Edge.

Rus shook away his growing melancholy. They had a little more time, the first few snowfalls were usually mild as well, they could still…he could still…

Gently, Edge drew his hand up and pressed a kiss to the symbol on Rus’s wrist, sighing, then he rested his cheek there a moment, breathing in. Scenting him, Rus realized, the way he so often did. As though Rus smelled of something wonderful, as if he was something wonderful.

How was he supposed to give this up?

The fading light was a reminder, a warning. He needed to leave. Pained, he carefully drew free, Edge’s hand holding his own until the very last touch of their fingertips.

“i’ll come back,” Rus promised softly. “next week, i’ll be back.”

“Leaf fall, home,” Edge said, and though he was smiling, Rus winced.

“Well, we’ll deal with that when it comes,” Rus whispered. A little desperately, he pressed a last kiss to Edge’s teeth and then spun away, walking quickly before he could be tempted to linger any longer. His gloves were soft and comfortingly warm in the growing chill and it was with true regret that he had to peel them off as the boundary of the woods came into sight.

The cold was a reminder of the coming winter, more so even than the leaves crunching beneath his feet, and Rus shivered, pushing the thought away. There was still a little time yet with Edge and he was going to take every scrap that he could.

 tbc

[artificialqueens]

Royals (A The Selection AU Fanfic) Chapter Seven - TheQuartzMermaid

A/N: Hey Selected Ladies (and gentlemen), I know I promised the chapter for yesterday, but I got some birthday stuff going on so I totally forgot. Take this as a belated birthday gift from me to you.

Sadly Chapter Seven doesn’t mean Royals is back from war. I’m still struggling with college, but I decided to drop this chapter here as a birthday gift. Enjoy, because I don’t know when Chapter Eight is coming!

Oh, this chapter features Superstar, but since it’s an AU, Ru is not the responsible for this song. Can’t say much ‘cause SPOILERS.

Again, if you’re not familiar with The Selection, I highly recommend you to read the prologue for this fanfic. If you like it enough, you can read the original books by Kiera Cass, they’re amazing.

Now let’s go to the chapter you’ve been waiting for… (or not)

Royals - Chapter Seven (or The one before the royal version of The Bachelor starts)

Dinner was… weird. After the Capital Report was ended, Bianca led the girls to the Dining Hall, commenting how their lives would change after the show they just watched. Next week, they would appear live. LIVE. Even though everyone responded well to the past week, it was still terrifying. Adore wondered if she could stick that silver fork in her hand instead of in the food.

And about the food… Oh, it was glorious. Last time Adore had such a delicious meal was six years ago, when Charlie sacrificed two months of work to buy them some good meat. It was Adore’s tenth birthday and her mom wanted a special celebration, with all the works… Well, at least all the works a Five single mother can afford.

After the delightful pasta with broccoli they had for dinner, waiters came from all the corners of the Dining Hall to serve the desert. It was a rich chocolate cake with cream topping and some fruits. All vegan, according to Bianca.

“The menu of The Selection has been fully thought out to suit everyone’s diet preferences.” Bianca answered Courtney, who seemed to be trying too hard to avoid eating the cake right away. “The chefs have been told who is allergic, who is vegan and who is vegetarian. Don’t worry about it.”

“Mother, I’m dying of chocolate overdose again”, Katya tried to whisper, doing that creepy voice of hers. She realized her attempt failed when she heard the chuckles of the girl seated across her. “It is good, isn’t it?”

“This is the best shit I ate in years, God bless”, Adore replied with a full mouth. Katya couldn’t help but smile, not paying attention to Violet’s eye roll.

All the other ladies were looking at the girl from Sonage, clearly disgusted with the poor choice of words. Suddenly Adore looked small, as if she shrinks in size everytime she’s not feeling confident.

The rest of the evening was silent. After everyone finished desert, Bianca took the girls back to their rooms. She acted like a mother – a caring mother of 35 -, telling each one of the girls to go to sleep, so they could look their best next morning. They are meeting the prince tomorrow. Like earlier, Nicole, Joslyn, Adore, and Katya were last. The first two said their goodnights and entered their rooms. Adore was about to do the same when the blonde touched her shoulder.

“Hey, first of all I’d like to say I’m sorry, but I kind of heard your talk with Miss Bianca at the Women’s Room”, Katya let the confession go before she could regret it. “Well, if you want to talk to someone, just knock on my door. I’m right here, you know.”

“Oh, thanks”, Adore had a half-smile on her face, she didn’t know how to react. Yekaterina was also smiling, perfect white teeth framed by bright red lips. What a view.

“Eh, you’re welcome”, Katya squeezed Adore’s hand before heading to her door. “Good night, Adore. See you tomorrow.”

“Good night, Yekaterina.”

“Just call me Katya, darling.”

With these words, the blonde left the tall girl alone at the hallway. Adore suppressed a smile, finally knowing why she had the Russian’s eyes on her during the whole day. But the doubt still managed to pinch her: what if Katya was acting all friendly and sweet just to stab her in the back? In Sonage, the only girl who proved to be anything but a bitch at the end was Rosie, all the others were fake to Adore. And they weren’t even fighting for a prince.

Adore’s maids greeted her with bows. The girl giggled at the scene. Only one caste separated her from Mabel, Ashley and Lola, but the three girls acted like Adore was already the crowned princess or God herself.

“Is this really necessary?” Adore took her shoes off, still smirking. Mabel quickly grabbed them and turned to the closet.

“It’s to show respect, Lady Adore. We’re here to serve you”, Lola answered as she helped the Selected girl to take off the dress.

“Respect for what? We’re not that different, are we?” She hated to be treated like she was big deal. If she ever crossed paths with Rosie again, bitch would have her face slapped for being so dumb to break the law and becoming an Eight. “And you’re not here to serve me. I’m no better than any of you.”

“But, Lady Adore, we…” Ashley tried to protest. “I mean, you’re a Lady of the Selection. We’re just maids…”

“Ashley, how old are you?”

“I just turned 17, my lady.”

“See, we’re almost the same age!” Adore exclaimed. “I’m not any better than you. You don’t need to bow whenever I enter the room, it’s… It’s annoying!”

Three pairs of eyes stared at Adore with sheer surprise. The tall girl was trying to be nice to them, but… Well, things didn’t go that well.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry… It’s just… I’m not used to be the center of the world, you know?” She was being honest, what softened the looks of her maids. “I mean, I know I’m here, but I’m just a girl who got lucky over the misery of another. And I really appreciate you guys, it’s just your job. I’m so fucking sorry…”

She didn’t expect Ashley’s smile. “It’s OK, Lady Adore. We know you meant no harm.”

“You are so sweet! Even with that potty mouth of yours”, it was Mabel’s turn to talk. Just to be called out by her mates. “What? She curses a lot!”

Adore was giggling. “Okay, I promise I’ll be more like a princess when I talk. But you have to promise you’re not going to treat me as I’m any better than you. Deal?”

The three maids exchanged concerned looks. They were instructed to obey Adore’s every command, but what would their boss think about this deal? Would they be punished? Fired? Made Eights, maybe?

“Deal”, Ashley was the fearless one to break the silence, being followed by Lola and Mabel. The four women smiled at each other.

Adore was taken to her bathroom – her OWN bathroom – and bathed by the maids. They chose Adore a fine blue nightgown that fit her perfectly, making the girl from Sonage look like an older, taller version of Wendy Darling from Peter Pan. The clock on the wall marked 8 PM, their curfew. Lola insisted that one of the maids should stay in the room, but Adore said they could go rest, she would call them if she needed. Goodnights and goodbyes were said, soon Miss Delano was all by herself.

She walked to the tiny bag she brought from home, the belongings she couldn’t leave behind. Pictures of her family, that she put on her mirror so she could take a look at them whenever she was getting ready. A pair of purple dance shoes, to remember home. Some clothes, so she would have something to wear when she is eliminated. The sign her own father painted for her, with the words “mermaids don’t lose sleep over the opinion of shrimp”. This one she hung at the door. Her diary, where she wrote all her lyrics. And last, but not least, a letter from Charlie. Wait, a letter?

Adore opened the envelope carefully, inhaling the aroma of tea and comfort. There it was, Charlie Delano’s impeccable calligraphy filling a whole page. The girl enjoyed the faint light that came from the outside and started reading. Tears would come from her eyes every now and again as her mother described how much she loves her. She didn’t like to feel like a cry baby, but it was less than one day and she already missed Charlie a lot.

At the back of the sheet of paper, her mom left a small note followed by what looked like lyrics to a song. Realization hit her like a bullet in her brain: Charlie wrote her a song, like she always did whenever she wanted to celebrate or just make her daughter feel better. There was no hint of a melody, so the girl started singing it just the way it felt right.

Here’s where you belong

Planets align for this moment

Singing the sweetest song

A melody full of emotion

And everyone will see

What you were meant to be, oh…

All of the glamour and all of the fame

People are gonna remember your name

Now and forever, your dream’s coming true

They’re gonna love it whatever you do

Gonna love you, as you are

Gonna love you, you’re a superstar

Katya was already laying in bed when she heard the angelic voice coming from her window. It wasn’t Courtney, for sure – their rooms weren’t even close – and the only other girl she predicted that could sing is Adore, her neighbor.

She kept quiet, enjoying the song – beautiful lyrics she’s never heard before – and the voice that came along with it. Fuck, I guess her parents didn’t call her Adore for nothing.

***

“Still awake, Your Highness?” Bianca was standing still at the door frame of Prince Casey’s room, looking over the young man as if he was her own son. “Anxious, maybe? I can get you a tea to help you sleep…”

“Thanks, Bianca, but I’m fine” The prince looked at the friendly woman with a hint of a smile on his face. “Well, I guess I’m a little anxious… Who would be perfectly okay knowing they would meet the love of their life the next day?”

Bianca finally entered the room, sitting by Casey’s side. She was there since he was a little boy, being his tutor – and sometimes closer to him than the queen. Of course the prince was nervous: being only 19 and forced to find a wife out of 35 girls he’s never met before. She held one of his hands, shaking it faintly. He grinned thankfully, she grinned back, trying to encourage the prince.

“I can assure you every lady downstairs is as nervous as you are. In the end of this thing, you’ll still be a member of the royal family, now with a lovely girl by your side. 34 of them will just be lucky women that got to meet the prince” Bianca said softly, trying to get Casey calm.

“Thanks, Lady Bianca.” The prince pulled the woman for a hug, but abruptly let go of her, heading to the balcony. Bianca stared at him again, appreciating his expression of focus. “Who is singing?”

“Oh God, they are already disrespecting the curfew?” Bianca got up, suddenly looking mad. “That must be Adore Delano, her room is right under yours. I’ll talk to her…”

“No, don’t!” Casey’s urgent tone stopped Bianca right away. She was by the door frame again, just turned 180º degrees back to the room and saw the biggest smile she’s ever seen Casey flash since he got a pony for Christmas. “That’s the most beautiful voice I’ve ever heard. Don’t make her stop, please.”

Bianca was baffled. Casey was never into music before – that was his sister’s thing. His thing was reading as many books as he could and spending way more time than he should with the guards. Now he falls in love with a girl just because of her beautiful voice?

This Selection thing will be easier than I thought.